Five Fatah guards dead in fresh Gaza gunbattles

GAZA, May 16 (Reuters) Gunmen storming the home of Fatah's top security chief in Gaza killed five Palestinian guards in fresh factional fighting that defied an attempted ceasefire deal, Palestinian security and Fatah sources said today.

The fighting at the home of Rashid Abu Shbak came shortly after mortars struck near the office of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and after gunmen attacked a Hamas police position outside the interior ministry in Gaza, sources said.

A Fatah official told Reuters at least four guards were killed in the attack on Shbak's home. Another person, a member of Abbas's presidential guard, was killed later and 15 others suffered varying degrees of wounds as gunbattles continued.

A spokesman for the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group which is part of Abbas's Fatah, said Hamas's political leadership was involved in the killings.

''Hamas's political leadership is participating in the assassination and murder of Fatah men,'' Abu Qusai said in comments to reporters.

Hours earlier gunmen shot and wounded an Egyptian official as he attempted to monitor a truce called by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Gunfire continued to echo through many Gaza streets for at least an hour beyond when the truce, declared after the worst day of bloodshed in months, was to have taken effect.

At least 16 Palestinians were killed yesterday -- eight in one incident -- in the deadliest fighting between Hamas and Fatah since the rivals formed a unity government in March. At least 29 have died since the fighting erupted on Friday.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have pressed the sides to rein in their forces, but two ceasefire deals negotiated with them have fallen apart.

Witnesses and sources said Wednesday's fighting began with grenades thrown at a position of Hamas's executive force outside the Interior Ministry shortly after dawn, followed by the firing of mortars that struck near Abbas's compound.

Gunmen also pounded the main headquarters of the Fatah-dominated preventive security services with mortar bombs, sparking a new gunbattle in that area, witnesses said.

TRADING ACCUSATIONS In the worst incident since the latest outbreak of fighting, Hamas gunmen killed eight members of Abbas's Presidential Guard in an attack near Karni Crossing yesterday, Gaza's main commercial entry point into Israel, Fatah sources said.

The Fatah-affiliated guardsmen were en route to help comrades under assault by Hamas at a training base near the crossing when Israeli forces across the frontier opened fire at them, according to Fatah spokesman, Tawfiq Abu Khoussa.

Hamas's armed wing denied the allegation, blaming the deaths on Israel and accusing Fatah of killing one of its commanders earlier on Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had fired at two gunmen who approached the border fence, hitting one of them.

Raising tensions further, Hamas said one of its senior figures was killed at a checkpoint manned by Fatah fighters. Fatah had no immediate comment.

In an attempt to shift the focus of fighting towards Israel, gunmen fired a round of rockets at the town of Sderot, blowing part of the roof of one house and wounding four Israelis. Schools were closed for the day in Sderot for fear of additional rockets falling in the town.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

Militants fired a number of rockets into Israel after daybreak today, but they did not cause any injuries or damage, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

Israel retaliated by aircraft fire into uninhabited areas of north Gaza, the army said. There were no reported casualties from that raid.

Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah formed a unity government two months ago in a Saudi-brokered deal that failed to resolve the crucial issue of control over security forces, and left armed groups fighting deadly turf wars.

REUTERS CS PM1127