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Middle East
Gun battle breaks out in Gaza
Fatah and Hamas continue to clash despite agreeing to form a coalition government.
Last Modified: 05 Mar 2007 16:29 GMT

Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian prime minister and Hamas leader,  has two weeks to form government [AFP]


Hamas fighters have engaged in a gun battle with security officers in the worst outbreak of internal violence since rival Palestinian factions agreed to form a unity government last month.
 
Fighting broke out in Gaza City on Monday when Hamas and Fatah loyalists argued over who had control of a nearby training compound, security officials said.
Fatah-led security forces demanded that the Hamas fighters leave the area, but they refused, saying it fell under the control of their group's ministry of interior, security officials said, adding there were no injuries.

In two other incidents, unknown assailants fired shots at the house and car of a senior security officer who has had past problems with Hamas.

Shots were also fired at a police headquarters, and police returned fire, the security officials said.

 

The fighting came as negotiators from Hamas and Fatah tried to resolve lingering issues over a national unity government.

 

Hamas, which won parliamentary elections last year, had agreed last month to form the coalition government with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of the Fatah party, partly in hopes of ending months of deadly street battles between the two groups.

 

Talks not done

 

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Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian prime minister and head of Hamas, said on Monday that talks on the government were not done.

 

"The Palestinian government won't finish discussions or be announced before the end of next week," he said.

 

Haniyeh has two more weeks to form a government.

 

Meanwhile, security officials said they believed Muslim extermists were behind the bombing of a music shop in the southern town of Khan Younis early on Monday, following a similar attack on an Internet cafe on Sunday.

 

Another Internet cafe owner was also briefly kidnapped. Nobody was injured in the attacks.

Source:
Agencies
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