8 killed in Gaza ambush as Palestinian fighting spirals

The attack near the main Karni goods terminal between the densely packed and violent Palestinian territory and Israel brought to 17 the number of Palestinians killed in the deadliest bout of violence in months.

The fighting, on top of Monday's resignation of interior minister Hani al-Qawasmeh, is the first major crisis facing a new unity government set up by Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamic movement Hamas to quell factional feuding.

Eight security officers in the Abbas-controlled and Fatah-dominated security services were killed in the fighting near Karni, a medical source said, in the deadliest single such attack in Gaza since the latest troubles flared.

The national security force, which lost officers in the ambush, formally accused a controversial Hamas paramilitary force and the Islamist faction's military wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, of trying to stage a coup.

"Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and members of Hamas have not stop firing against the security force headquarters, which proves its clear intention for a coup d'etat against the legal organs of the Palestinian Authority," it said.

"The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and members of Hamas are using heavy arms to bombard the security service headquarters," it added in a statement.

Colonel Ali Qayssi said dozens of supporters of Hamas, Fatah's bitter rival and the senior partner in the two-month-old unity government, fired grenades and anti-tank fire on the camp of 200 guardsmen near Karni.

But a spokesman for the Hamas paramilitary, the Executive Force which is controlled by the interior ministry, denied its members were involved.

Earlier yesterday, a fighter from Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades was shot dead and another Hamas supporter wounded in Gaza City, medics and witnesses said.

Ibrahim Mounia, 40, who belonged to the Brigades, was killed in eastern Gaza City overnight when unknown gunmen ambushed a minibus carrying fighters from the unit, the sources said.

Another Hamas loyalist was wounded when gunmen opened fire near a checkpoint controlled by national security, a service dominated by members of Fatah.

Seventeen Palestinians have been now killed in factional fighting since Sunday and more than 60 wounded, dealing a major blow to the struggling unity government just two months after it took office.