Last update - 00:00 15/09/2006
PA security official, bodyguards killed in Gaza shooting attack
By Haaretz Service and Agencies
Unidentified gunmen killed a top Palestinian security officer and his four bodyguards Friday in a drive-by shooting near the Gaza home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, Palestinian witnesses said.
The officer was identified as Brigadier General Jad Tayeh, the head of international coordination in the Palestinian intelligence services. There were conflicting reports on the identity of the other four fatalities, but some of them were believed to have been members of the Palestinian security services.
The shooting took place in an area known as Beach Camp, near Haniyeh's heavily guarded compound. There was no immediate claim of responsibility or suggestion of Israeli involvement.
The gunmen, driving a sports utility vehicle, targeted the gray Audi belonging Tayeh, spraying dozens of bullets into the car, said Khaled Abu Hilal, a Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, though officials speculated that it could be an internal feud within the intelligence service.
Security officials said the attackers took a black briefcase Tayeh was carrying.
"This crime and its timing is a dangerous message. We won't accept it or stay silent," said Interior Minister Said Siyam. He said the attack appeared timed to disrupt negotiations to form a national unity government.
Gaza has been wracked for much of the year by internal violence between militants from Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in January, and those affiliated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, which controls the security services.
Gaza church blast causes minor damage
Also Friday, a small explosion caused minor damage in a courtyard outside a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City, church workers said. The early morning blast appeared to have been caused by a small, homemade explosive device, which damaged a door and caused minor damage to the floor and walls, church workers said. No one was wounded.
A second explosion hit the church hours later and a concussion grenade was thrown near the church in the afternoon.
Neither of those blasts caused major damage, but church officials worried that the attacks were retaliation for remarks that Pope Benedict XVI made Tuesday that angered Muslims.
"This is the first time this has ever happened to our church," said the church's priest, Rev. Artinious Alexious. "We don't know why they have done this. We are Greek Orthodox and have no relation to the Pope."
Hossam Taweel, a Christian lawmaker and representative of Gaza's Christians, said there was no firm link between the attacks and the controversy over the Pope. "We deal with this incident as a criminal activity and not as a sectarian act," he said.
On Friday morning, Israel mounted an air strike on a house in Rafah that the Israel Defense Forces said contained the entrance to a tunnel used to smuggle arms into Gaza.
There were no reports of casualties.
"A series of explosions after the attack showed that there was weaponry inside," an IDF spokesman said. The army said it warned residents to leave in advance of the air strike.
Meanwhile, Palestinians fired three Qassam rocket at the Negev on Friday, causing no injuries.
Palestinians also fired three Qassam rockets at Israel on Thursday. Two landed adjacent to the Gaza security fence and one landed south of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in the Qassam strikes.
The IDF responded by firing at the rocket-launching sites.