A car bomb has exploded near the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip but caused no injuries, Israeli public radio has reported.

The blast on Thursday damaged buildings on the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Palestinians shot at Israeli troops without hitting anyone, the radio reported.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the vehicle had exploded on the Palestinian side of the frontier, blowing out windows in nearby buildings.

She said two other men involved in the attack were killed when two missiles launched from an Israeli helicopter destroyed their getaway vehicle.

There were no Israeli casualties, the spokeswoman said.

Israel's Channel 10 television said troops had prevented the truck from getting close to the crossing by firing at it before it exploded.

Claim of responsibility

Abu Ahmed, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, said the group had carried out the attack in co-operation with the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an offshoot of the Fatah faction.

Abu Ahmed said the truck was carrying four tons of explosives. He identified the suicide bomber as 23-year-old Ibrahim Nasser from Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the vehicle was driven by a suicide bomber under cover of heavy early morning fog and that he was accompanied by armed men who opened fire at the crossing before the explosion.

Residents in the Gaza Strip who live more than 30km from the crossing reported hearing the blast.

Gaza incursion

Separately, but at the time of the bombing, Israeli troops raided a village in the central Gaza Strip and shot dead a 63-year-old man, medical workers and Hamas said.

An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate information on the incident.

Israel frequently carries out raids and air strikes in the Gaza Strip as part of what it describes as efforts to curb cross-border rocket fire.

Truce talks

Ceasefire talks between Egyptian and Hamas officials in Cairo ended inconclusively on Wednesday.

Hamas has demanded the crossings be re-opened in return for a cessation of violence that has threatened to undermine peace talks between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister.

"Resistance is strong and we are not begging for calm," Abu Ahmed said after the attack.

PHOTO CAPTION 

Palestinians stand near a destroyed vehicle after it was hit by missiles launched from an Israeli helicopter near the Erez crossing in Gaza May 22, 2008.

Al-Jazeera