NABLUS, West Bank ? Israel’s military killed or arrested most of the leaders in the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade when it stormed into West Bank cities two months ago. But now the militia is rebuilding itself with an army of volunteers, including teen-agers.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing and two shootings that killed six Israelis including a toddler and three teen-agers on Monday and Tuesday, and also was behind several other recent assaults.

While most suicide bombers have been men in their 20s, two Al Aqsa attacks in the past week were carried out by teen-agers one 16, the other 18. The 16-year-old, Issa Bdeir, from a refugee camp in Bethlehem, was the youngest of more than 60 Palestinian suicide bombers in the current conflict.

“We came out of the Israeli invasion very weak, we lost so many of our leaders and cadres,” said Abu Mujahed, the nom de guerre for the Al Aqsa spokesman in the West Bank city of Nablus.

“But we found a lot of young people who wanted to join us,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s not as easy to make explosives and store them as before, because the Israelis are still coming in and out of the area. This hurts our activities, but doesn’t stop them.”