Nine wounded as Palestinian gunmen attack compound

Nine Palestinians were wounded in separate gunbattles yesterday, which included a clash between militants and members of the security forces outside a government ministry over jobs and late salaries, witnesses said.

Dozens gunmen stormed Gaza's government compound, exchanging fire with Palestinian police, and witnesses said four people were wounded, two gunmen and two policemen.

The takeover by the gunmen, affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, came a day after the rival Hamas group, which won January parliamentary elections, presented its new Cabinet to Abbas for approval.

Many Fatah activists fear for their government jobs under Hamas rule.

Three gunmen firing in the air charged toward the complex, which includes the foreign and finance ministries. Moments later, Palestinian police jeeps pulled up to the buildings and exchanged fire with the gunmen.

Eventually, police stormed the ministry and began searched for the gunmen, going room to room. Dozens more officers surrounded the buildings. Three al-Aqsa gunmen were eventually arrested.

Earlier the day, gunmen briefly took over Gaza's power plant, blocked a road leading to the main Israel-Gaza crossing point and briefly entered a military hospital.

On the road leading to Erez, the three dozen gunmen blocking the road exchanged fire with policemen trying to remove them from the area.

Two gunmen and a policeman were wounded in the incident.

The firefight erupted along a road Abbas needs to use to leave the Gaza Strip. Abbas was scheduled to leave Gaza yesterday morning and head to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Two gunmen also briefly infiltrated Gaza's power plant elsewhere in Gaza, exchanging fire with security forces and wounding two policemen, officials said.

Hamas its full Cabinet list yesterday, as expected putting loyal members in charge of all key ministries including the foreign affairs, interior and finance posts.

Mahmoud a leader in Gaza whom Israel has tried to assassinate, was made foreign minister, according to the Cabinet list.

Another Hamas leader, Saeed Seyam, was interior minister, putting him in charge of several security agencies.

Omar Abdel-Razeq, a prominent West Bank economics professor and Hamas election official, was named finance minister.