GAZA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - An explosion killed a Palestinian militant and wounded two others in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics and militants said.

Medics said the blast south of Gaza City after dark was caused by an Israeli air strike. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied any air attack had been launched.

Spokesmen for the Islamid Jihad militant group said the dead militant belonged to their organization. A member of the same group died in an Israeli assault last week launched in response to a rocket strike from Gaza that struck an Israeli city and damaged a house.

Israel staged a series of bombing raids on Saturday, wounding a baby and a Palestinian man, calling the attacks a response to stepped-up rocket and mortar fire at Israel in the past week.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan)