Hamas denies Gaza tunnels dug to kill Fatah leaders

GAZA, Jan 16 (Reuters) Hamas said today tunnels dug by Palestinians under the Gaza Strip were aimed at foiling possible Israeli ground offensives and not at killing prominent leaders of the rival Fatah faction.

Fatah, locked in a power struggle with the governing Islamist Hamas movement, said yesterday the tunnels ran under roads and some homes of some of its top officials and were rigged with explosives that could have been used to kill them.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said the tunnels, discovered in recent days by Fatah-led security forces, were built to confront the ''Zionist enemy'', a reference to Israel.

He denied any tunnels had been dug underneath the homes of Fatah leaders, describing the accusation as ''politically motivated.'' At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called for fresh elections last month, raising the stakes in his bitter power struggle with Hamas.

Reuters SP RN1743