Last update - 00:00 21/03/2007
Hamas says two of its loyalists seized in Gaza, accuses Fatah
By Reuters
Two Palestinians linked to Hamas were abducted in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Hamas said, adding that it suspected gunmen from the rival faction Fatah were behind the captures.
The reported seizure of a Hamas political leader and a lecturer at the Islamic University, a Hamas bastion, came shortly after the factions traded fire in the first deadly clash since a Palestinian coalition government was formed on Saturday.
During the clashes, Hamas agents killed a gunman from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah.
Fatah said members of Hamas's paramilitary "Executive Force" fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a home in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, killing a member of the Fatah militant group al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and wounding another.
Hamas confirmed the clash had taken place, but said its men opened fire after being shot at by the al-Aqsa gunmen.
The incident looked likely to sour Palestinian celebration at the formation of the Hamas-Fatah coalition government over the weekend, which national leaders had said could end months of street fighting and help lift a Western aid embargo.
Palestinians had hoped that the unity deal would bring an end to fighting between Hamas and Fatah, but tensions have remained high.
In his first act after swearing in the new government, Abbas appointed Hamas's long-time foe, Mohammad Dahlan, as national security adviser, angering the Islamist movement.
Meanwhile, over objections from Fatah, Hamas has pushed ahead with plans to double the size of its Executive Force to 12,000 members.
The force is built mostly from members of Hamas's armed wing, which on Monday carried out its first attacks against Israelis since a shaky Gaza truce took effect in November.
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