3RD LEAD: Internal fighting rages in Gaza overnight


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday February 2, 2007

Gaza- Fighting raged throughout the night and morning
Friday as Hamas gunmen and members of the Executive Force engaged
members of the Presidential Guards and their Fatah supporters in
street battles in Gaza City, said witnesses and security sources.
At least eight people were killed in the last 24 hours, mainly
from the Presidential Guards and other official security groups, said
the sources. More than 90 people have been injured, many of them were
reported in critical condition.

Members of the Presidential Guards raided the Islamic University
in Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold, early Friday and occupied the
premises. Reports said fire broke out in one of the buildings.

Unconfirmed reports said the Presidential Guards arrested six
Iranians in the university, claiming they were teaching Hamas
activists how to make explosives.

Hamas later denied these reports and insisted there were no
Iranians on campus.

The new round of fighting started Wednesday when Hamas gunmen
captured two containers they said were transporting weapons to its
rival Fatah members.

The Hamas gunmen opened fire at the convoy killing several members
of the Presidential Guards, who were accompanying the shipment. The
Presidential Guards denied the containers had weapons and insisted
they included normal supplies coming from Egypt to the Palestinian
security.

However, a spokesman for the militant Hamas group said in Gaza
Thursday that the shipment was only a small fraction of weapons and
other heavy artillery brought into Gaza in the last few days to
bolster the Presidential Guards.

At the Islamic University in Gaza, reports said the Presidential
Guards secured the campus Friday morning after shots and rocket
propelled grenades were shot from the premise into the nearby
presidential headquarters and other security buildings.

Some reports said the residence of President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza
City came under attack as well. Abbas in Ramallah and his spokesman
said Friday he was following very closely the developments in Gaza.

Reports also said two members of the Military Intelligence,
another official security group, were killed Friday in fighting with
Hamas gunmen and members of the Executive Force, a 12,000-strong
Hamas-backed military group.

Meanwhile, efforts resumed in Gaza to put an end to the renewed
fighting. An Egyptian security delegation is trying to bring both
Fatah and Hamas back to the dialogue table to stop the fighting, said
Palestinian sources.

However, it was not known whether the two groups have agreed to
meet again.

In the West Bank and specifically in the Ramallah area, gunmen
abducted a Hamas activist from his house in Ramallah early Friday. It
is believed the gunmen are from Fatah and the abduction is related to
the situation in Gaza.

Palestinians have previously warned against bringing the conflict
between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza into the West Bank.

Also in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two
members of the Preventive Security, one of the official Palestinian
security groups, in the town of Beitunia, near Ramallah, early
Friday.

According to witnesses, an Israel army unit was operating in
the area when a Preventive Security patrol arrived there at the same
time. The soldiers and members of the Preventive Security exchanged
gunfire killing the two.

The army left the area after arresting three wanted Palestinians,
said security sources.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency