Rival Palestinian security forces clash in Gaza

GAZA, Oct 1 (Reuters) Rival Palestinian security forces clashed across the Gaza Strip today, killing three and injuring 45 others, in the biggest outbreak of internal fighting in months over unpaid wages and stalled unity government talks.

Violence also erupted in the West Bank city of Ramallah where supporters of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah started a fire inside the offices of the Hamas-led government. There were no reports of injuries.

The flare-up stoked fears of civil war as the rival forces, loyal to Hamas and Abbas, fired at each other from rooftops near parliament building in Gaza City. Smoke from burning tyres wafted overhead as pedestrians ran for cover.

A member of Abbas's presidential guard was killed in a firefight about 100 metres from Abbas's Gaza home.

Most of those wounded in Gaza City and the town of Khan Younis were civilians, including schoolchildren, medics said. A cameraman for Al-Arabiya television was also among the wounded.

Fatah and Hamas traded blame for the violence, which came as about 50 Israeli tanks pushed into northern Gaza, Palestinian security sources said.

An army spokesman said the incursion was aimed at preventing militants from firing make-shift rockets into Israel.

Palestinian tensions rose after Interior Minister Saeed Seyam of the Islamic militant group Hamas ordered his security forces to take to the streets to prevent further violence by striking policemen demanding overdue salaries.

MOST WOUNDED CIVILIANS Abbas has been locked in an increasingly bitter power struggle with the Hamas-led government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh over stalled efforts to form a unity coalition after Hamas trounced Fatah in parliamentary elections in January.

Palestinians hoped a unity government would ease Western sanctions that have prevented the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority from paying full salaries to civil servants for more than six months.

But the talks broke down after Abbas accused Hamas of reneging on a commitment to accept past peace deals with Israel.

Protesting police, loyal to Abbas, blocked Gaza roads with burning tyres and paramilitary troops clashed with the Hamas-led force in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

In addition to three Palestinians killed in Gaza City, 25 members of the Preventive Security force loyal to Abbas were seized by Hamas.

''Hamas and Fatah are responsible for the current bloodshed.

Haniyeh and Abbas are to blame for their failure to resolve their political differences,'' Abu Saleh, 38, said as we watched the fighting.

Senior Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri blamed the clashes on Fatah, accusing pro-Fatah police of going on strike to ''weaken Hamas and to topple the government''.

Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a spokesman of Fatah, accused Hamas of ''shedding Palestinian blood'' and of using anti-tank rockets to end the strike.

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