OMEN
06-01-2006, 09:58 PM
FOUR gunmen were wounded in a clash between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip today, witnesses and a security source said.
The clash took place in a village east of the town of Khan Younis.
A security source said three security officers loyal to Fatah were moderately wounded in the exchange of fire.
Medics said one gunman was slightly hurt in the clash, but it was unclear which faction he belonged to.
Fatah and Hamas traded blame over who began the gunbattle. A Fatah source said its gunmen were ambushed by Hamas militants.
A Hamas source said Fatah gunmen fired at one of its senior commanders, which prompted them to return fire.Separately in Gaza City security sources said unknown gunmen critically wounded a Fatah senior officer in the preventative security services. No one claimed responsibility for the shooting.
In further violence earlier today witnesses and medics said three Fatah members were lightly wounded in a gunbattle between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in Khan Younis.
The clashes have disrupted a tenuous peace that had been in place since President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas-led government began talks last week to try to end violence in Gaza.
Hamas trounced the long-dominant Fatah in January elections, but since taking power in March the Islamic militant group has seen its popularity sapped by the effects of a Western aid blockade on Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Sworn to Israel's destruction, Hamas has resisted pressure from abroad and from Abbas loyalists to accept Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Palestinians want Gaza and the West Bank for a future state.
Palestinian poverty, deepened by the Western aid embargo, has spread discontent that occasionally spills over into violence.
At least 10 people have been killed in clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters since March, prompting fears among some Palestinians of possible civil war.
Reuters
The clash took place in a village east of the town of Khan Younis.
A security source said three security officers loyal to Fatah were moderately wounded in the exchange of fire.
Medics said one gunman was slightly hurt in the clash, but it was unclear which faction he belonged to.
Fatah and Hamas traded blame over who began the gunbattle. A Fatah source said its gunmen were ambushed by Hamas militants.
A Hamas source said Fatah gunmen fired at one of its senior commanders, which prompted them to return fire.Separately in Gaza City security sources said unknown gunmen critically wounded a Fatah senior officer in the preventative security services. No one claimed responsibility for the shooting.
In further violence earlier today witnesses and medics said three Fatah members were lightly wounded in a gunbattle between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in Khan Younis.
The clashes have disrupted a tenuous peace that had been in place since President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas-led government began talks last week to try to end violence in Gaza.
Hamas trounced the long-dominant Fatah in January elections, but since taking power in March the Islamic militant group has seen its popularity sapped by the effects of a Western aid blockade on Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Sworn to Israel's destruction, Hamas has resisted pressure from abroad and from Abbas loyalists to accept Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Palestinians want Gaza and the West Bank for a future state.
Palestinian poverty, deepened by the Western aid embargo, has spread discontent that occasionally spills over into violence.
At least 10 people have been killed in clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters since March, prompting fears among some Palestinians of possible civil war.
Reuters