Fatah militants vow Gaza fightback against Hamas

GAZA, June 12 (Reuters) A militant armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement vowed today to hit back hard after Hamas Islamists attacked Fatah positions in the Gaza Strip.

''We have moved into an offensive phase now. It is no longer self-defence,'' a spokesman for Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said, declaring the group to be on a full state of alert.

In a radio statement, the group accused Hamas of being in league with Israel - a charge Hamas reciprocates - and said it would ''confront the Zionist Hamas aggression''.

A senior figure in the Brigades, Samih al-Madhoun, delivered a fiery vow of vengeance after his house in Gaza was attacked: ''If they've burnt my house, I have burnt 20 Hamas houses last night,'' he told a Fatah radio station.

''A house for a house and blood for blood ... I swear to God that I will kill every member of Hamas, be they civilian or military. I will kill them all.'' Madhoun is viewed by Hamas as one of their main enemies in Gaza and he has survived several attempts on his life. The Gaza homes of other senior Fatah figures were also attacked as violence spread along the crowded coastal enclave.

Nabil Shaath, a prominent aide to Abbas, told Reuters that his house in the Strip had been raided and burned, though none of his family was present at the time.

Reuters RKM GC1931