GAZA/ISRAEL: Five Fatah guards killed after Hamas gunmen storm the home of President Mahmoud Abbas's top security chief in Gaza

Hamas gunmen storm the home of President Mahmoud Abbas's top security chief in Gaza and kill at least five Fatah guards. Hamas Gunmen stormed the home of Fatah's top security chief in Gaza and killed five guards in fresh factional fighting on Wednesday (May 16) that pushed Palestinians closer to all-out civil war. The fighting at the home of Rashid Abu Shbak occurred shortly after mortars struck near the office of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and after gunmen attacked a Hamas police position outside the Interior Ministry in Gaza. A Fatah official told Reuters at least four guards were killed in the attack on Shbak's home. Another person, a member of Abbas's presidential guard, was killed later and 15 other people were wounded as gun battles continued. A spokesman for the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group, part of Fatah, said Hamas's political leadership was involved in the killings. Hours earlier, gunmen shot and wounded an Egyptian official as he tried to monitor a truce called by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Gunfire echoed through the streets of Gaza for at least an hour beyond the time when the truce, declared after the worst day of bloodshed in months, was to have taken effect. At least 16 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday (May 15) -- eight in one incident -- in the deadliest fighting between Hamas and Fatah since the rivals formed a unity government in March. At least 29 have been killed since the latest fighting broke out on Friday. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have pressed both sides to rein in their forces, but two attempts to agree a ceasefire have fallen apart. Wednesday's fighting began after grenades were thrown at a position of Hamas's executive force outside the Interior Ministry shortly after dawn, followed by the firing of mortar bombs that struck near Abbas's compound. Gunmen pounded the main headquarters of the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security Service with mortar bombs, sparking a new gun battle in that area. In the worst incident since the latest outbreak of fighting, Hamas gunmen killed eight members of Abbas's Presidential Guard in an attack near the Karni Crossing on Tuesday, Gaza's main commercial entry point into Israel, Fatah sources said. In an attempt to shift the focus of fighting towards Israel, Hamas militants fired rockets at the town of Sderot, blowing part of the roof of one house and wounding four Israelis. Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Militants fired a number of rockets into Israel after daybreak on Wednesday, but they caused no injuries or damage, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

ITN Source | May 16, 2007

Tags:. .civil. .beyond. .wounding. .wounded. .rivals