Palestinian infighting rages on, one killed

GAZA, Jan 29 (Reuters) Palestinian gunmen battled in Gaza today for a fifth day after Fatah and Hamas agreed to a Saudi offer of talks in the holy city Mecca to try to end the fiercest internal fighting since Hamas won election a year ago.

A Hamas militant was shot dead in a clash, medical officials said. The death raised to 27 the number of people killed since Thursday in gun battles between the Islamist group and the long-dominant Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Gunmen blew up a Fatah office and the home of an official from the group, while others mortar bombed the headquarters of the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security service in Gaza City.

The attacks caused damage but no injuries.

Hamas militants also abducted two Fatah members, including a local commander, Fatah officials said.

The violence has prompted some families to evacuate homes near the scenes of gun battles that have spread across the narrow, densely populated territory where 1.5 million Palestinians live.

Fearing sniper fire, many parents have been keeping their children inside and away from windows.

The fighting, which has erupted periodically since Hamas beat Fatah in a parliamentary election last January, has derailed unity talks between the groups.

Yesterday, Saudi Arabia invited the feuding Palestinian factions for urgent talks in Mecca. Both sides agreed to attend the meeting but no date was set.

In all, 57 Palestinians have died in infighting since Abbas, a moderate, called last month for early presidential and parliamentary elections after inconclusive talks with Hamas on a unity government.

Hamas says the voting would amount to a coup.

It has struggled to govern since taking office in March under the weight of US-backed sanctions imposed over its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals with the Jewish state.

Reuters AKJ GC1309