Unidentified gunmen fired at the home of a Hamas lawmaker in the south Gaza Strip on Wednesday, witnesses said, killing one of his bodyguards in what appeared to be the latest attack in a Palestinian power struggle.

The lawmaker, Younis al-Astal, was not hurt in the shooting in Khan Younis town. He is considered among the more hardline figures in Hamas, an Islamic militant group that ousted the more moderate and long-dominant Fatah faction in January elections.

Gaza and the West Bank have seen spiralling violence between Hamas and Fatah supporters since unity government talks broke down earlier this week. At least 14 people have died, including a Hamas leader shot by gunmen near his mosque in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya on Wednesday.

	Advertisement

The factional clashes overshadowed a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who seeks to restart a "road map" to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Three masked men shot dead the Hamas leader as he left a mosque, witnesses said, a day after a rival Palestinian faction threatened to kill senior Hamas members.

The gunmen jumped out of a passing vehicle and shot Mohammed Odeh, 37, as he left the mosque after dawn prayers in Hableh, a village near , northwest of Ramallah, and then sped off, the witnesses said.

Odeh, described as a local leader of Hamas, the Islamic militant movement that heads the Palestinian government, died on the way to hospital, ambulance workers said.

Meanwhile in Gaza, masked gunmen stormed two cell phone transmitting stations, opening fire and disrupting cellular phone coverage.

The gunmen first broke into the Gaza City offices of the Palestinian cell phone company, Jawal, and opened fire. They did not identify themselves and did not make any demands. No one was injured and no serious damage was caused.

Shortly after, gunmen attacked Jawal facilities in the Jabaliya refugee camp, opening fire inside the small building housing transmission equipment, then torching a transmitter and antenna.

Hamas militiamen arrested one of the gunmen, but the others escaped. The gunmen did not state their motives.

Jawal said in a statement that the two stations would be shut down for repairs.

Abbas: 'No indication' of fresh unity gov't talks
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that there is "no indication" of fresh dialogue with Hamas, after talks on forming a more moderate unity government broke down several days ago.

Speaking a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Abbas said any new Palestinian government must honor signed agreements with Israel.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Wednesday accused the U.S. of trying to "rearrange" the Middle East to suit American and Israeli interests.

"She cares only to rearrange this region and to rearrange the Palestinian scene in a way that serves the American and Israeli agenda," Haniyeh said.

The international community has imposed sanctions on the Hamas-led government, which has rejected key demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel and respect previous peace deals between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians had hoped that the formation of a unity government would ease the crippling aid embargo.

Abbas, who also heads the Fatah movement, ousted by Hamas in the January parliamentary elections, said earlier in the day that a new cabinet must be formed to end the recent surge in violence that erupted after coalition talks collapsed and which has claimed more than 10 lives in three days.

He did not elaborate.

"There is no dialogue now," Abbas said at a news conference with Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa.

A preliminary coalition agreement announced on September 11 "is over now, and we have to start from square one," he said.