Gaza gunmen kill one Hamas member, wound four

GAZA, May 24 (Reuters) Gunmen in Gaza today shot and killed one Hamas member and wounded four others from the Islamic militant group in renewed violence after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called for rival factions to show restraint.

No group claimed responsibility for the shootings, which came amid a power struggle between Hamas, now in charge of the Palestinian government, and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

Hamas sources said three unarmed Hamas members were kidnapped at dawn in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. They were later dumped on a street with gunshot wounds in their legs. Medics said one of the wounded men later died.

Relatives of the three Hamas members blamed Fatah gunmen for the abduction.

Two Hamas members were injured in a separate drive-by shooting in Gaza City, Hamas sources said.

The violence followed an appeal by Haniyeh yesterday to ''all our people to be calm and show more self-restraint''.

The battle for control of security in Gaza has raised fears of civil war, which could cripple the Palestinian Authority and strengthen Israel's position to impose final borders with the Palestinians unilaterally in the absence of peace talks.

REUTERS KD RAI1312