Gunmen defy Hamas leader
2006-04-01 20:48
Gaza - Gunmen from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement fired off guns in a show of force in Gaza on Saturday.
The show was in defiance of orders from the country's prime minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to stay off the streets.
The militants demanded Haniyeh arrest members of a rival group. They blame the group for deadly clashes, in which three people died, on Friday.
About 300 gunmen shot repeatedly into the air.
Fatah strongman Samir al-Mashharawi threatened to "take measures" if Haniyeh failed to arrest a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a rival group he blamed for Friday's gunbattle.
Al-Mashharawi said: "We in Fatah will not allow this person to escape punishment."
Friday's clashes broke out when members of the PRC, a group that often fires rockets at Israel, accused Palestinian security forces close to Abbas of helping Israel kill a top faction member in a car blast.
Israel's army has denied involvement in the explosion.
On Saturday, Haniyeh said his government - which beat Abbas's Fatah in a January election and now controls tens of thousands of security officers - had ordered the gunmen involved in the clashes to leave the streets in a bid to end tension.
Haniyeh said: "What happened was dangerous and must not be repeated."