Washington  - The special US envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, has begun his second trip seeking to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Mitchell arrived Tuesday in London for talks with British officials and will later head to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Washington - The United States' new Middle East envoy George Mitchell met Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday after returning from his first visit to the region, but won't stay away long as he plans another trip by the end of the month.

Mitchell is to return to the Middle East before the end of February, Clinton said, calling his recent trip "the first of what will be an ongoing high level of engagement by Senator Mitchell on behalf of myself and the president."

Ramallah- New US Middle East env

Cairo  - US President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, arrived in Cairo airport on Tuesday, at the beginning of a tour of the region.

Shortly after touching down at Cairo airport, Mitchell had private talks with EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana, who is making his own tour of the region in an attempt to turn twin ceasefire declarations from Hamas and Israel into a longer-term peace.

On Tuesday morning, one Israeli soldier was killed by a bomb blast near the Gaza border. Israeli troops fired at nearby houses in response, killing a Palestinian farmer.

Washington  - George Mitchell began his first trip to the Middle East on Monday, planning stops in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, just days after being named US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region.

Mitchell planned to hold talks on the shaky truce between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza and discuss the wider peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.