New Palestinian force launched over Abbas veto

GAZA, Apr 27 (Reuters) About 50 masked Palestinian gunmen, pledging their allegiance to the Hamas-led government, held a training exercise today as part of a new police force opposed by President Mahmoud Abbas.

''We promise to God ... to be servants of Islam and the Muslims and to give our loyalty and support to the elected legitimate government,'' the militants chanted in a field in Gaza City as Israeli drones flew over the area.

The exercise was heavy on theatrics as gunmen from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a grouping of militants from various factions, took cover behind trees and jumped from moving vehicles as journalists invited to the event watched.

But it underscored Hamas's determination to exert security control in the Gaza Strip, where lawlessness has increased following Israel's pullout from the territory last year.

Abbas has rejected the establishment of the rapid response police force that Hamas said it would set up through the Interior Ministry.

Hamas, an Islamic group dedicated to Israel's destruction, won the Palestinian parliamentary election in January.

EARLIER CLASHES Some 30 people were wounded in Gaza in clashes earlier in the week between gunmen from Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas, violence related to his veto of the new unit and the ministry's appointment of a top militant to a senior security post.

Abu Abir, a spokesman for the militants taking part in the training exercise, said the force would recruit its 3,000 members from the police and volunteers, including members of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades. He said some 500 would come from the PRC.

The unit, he said, would provide backup for police on various missions and protect government officials if they came under attack.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said the new force began its work last week, rushing into the Health Ministry and subduing gunmen who took over the building to demand health benefits for a relative.

He said the unit, once fully formed, would be integrated into the police and Abbas would have no reason to object.

''President Abbas rejected a formation of a separate force that can be seen as an alternative to the police, and we agreed with him.

This is a backup force that will be merged into the police,'' Abu Hilal said.

Fatah gunmen announced on Wednesday they would form a militia of their own as protection against any attempt by the Interior Ministry's force to rein them in.

The Hamas led-government has said it had no plans to arrest militants who attack Israel.

Reuters CH VV1659