A top commander of a small militant Palestinian group was killed yesterday when his car mysteriously exploded in flames, and a shootout between rival Palestinian factions erupted shortly after the blast.
The Popular Resistance Committees, whose commander was killed, accused Palestinian security forces of being behind the assassination, raising the possibility of further infighting. Hundreds of gunmen marched through the streets of Gaza City to protest the killing.
The unrest illustrated the widening spiral of violence facing the new Hamas government, which has pledged to restore order in the lawless Gaza Strip and West Bank. Late on Thursday, a militant from a rival group killed four Israelis in a suicide bombing in the West Bank, weeks after being released from a Palestinian prison.
PHOTO: AP
Yesterday's explosion killed Abu Yousef Abu Quka, a senior Popular Resistance Committees commander, reducing his white Subaru to a twisted hunk of metal. The group initially blamed Israel, but later accused Palestinian security forces. Israel, which routinely claims responsibility for killing wanted Palestinian militants, denied involvement.
Popular Resistance Committees spokesman Abu Abir said the Preventive Security Service had been trying to kill Abu Quka for some time, and that that loyalists of Mohammed Dahlan and Samir Masharawi, two Gaza strongmen, were seen spying on Abu Quka's home on Thursday.
He said Abu Quka was a former member of preventive security, and the agency was upset about his defection.
"This is not the first time they tried to kill him," he said. "There is a long history of conflict between us. The Preventive Security always tries to demean our members."
Hamas' new interior minister, Said Siyam, who is now in charge of preventive security, promised to bring the killers to justice.
"We regret the exchange of accusations and the mentioning of names," Siyam said. "This doesn't serve the internal unity of the Palestinian people and we call on all brothers to take their time and not to rush behind these blind internal divisions."
Hamas, whose government was sworn into office on Wednesday, has pledged to restore law and order to the chaotic Gaza Strip and West Bank, where factional infighting is rampant.
Yesterday's violence illustrated how difficult the task will be. Palestinian security forces, most loyal to the rival Fatah movement, are often involved in the violence, and Hamas has little control over them.
When Abu Abir called a news conference to discuss the killing, rival gunmen burst on the scene, sparking a shootout. Witnesses said the gunmen were from Preventive Security, an official security agency dominated by the rival Fatah movement.
Hospital officials said two teenage boys, aged 13 and 15, were wounded, one seriously, during the shootout, and the resistance committees said one of its members was abducted.
Preventive Security officials were not immediately available for comment.
Dozens of gunmen gathered outside the hospital where Abu Quka's body was taken, crying, screaming and firing into the air. As tensions rose, the size of the crowd grew and hundreds of gunmen marched through the streets of Gaza City.
Israel Radio reported that Abu Quka oversaw numerous rocket attacks on Israel. Members of his group said Israel had tried to assassinate him in the past.
Hamas' foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar, blamed Israel for Abu Quka's death and said it "justifies the process of self-defense to stop the Israeli aggression by all means."
The blast came hours after a suicide bomber affiliated with Fatah disguised himself as an Orthodox Jew and hitched a ride in a car driving to the West Bank settlement of Kedumim. The bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the settlement, also killing the four Israelis in the car.
The suicide attack was the first by a Fatah affiliate since a truce was signed in February last year.
Israeli security officials say they expect more suicide bombings from Fatah militants now that Hamas has taken power. Fatah, the long dominant Palestinian party, lost to Hamas in January parliamentary elections.
With Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert planning to pull out of much of the West Bank in the coming years, Fatah-linked militants might try to step up violence to gain credibility with the public and create the impression that Israel is retreating under fire.
Hamas has claimed that its years of attacks pushed Israel out of the Gaza Strip last year.
Alternatively, security officials said, Fatah militants might want to turn up the heat on Hamas, which is under heavy international pressure to renounce violence.
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