Fatah to decide on unity government fate after clashes

GAZA, June 12 (Reuters) Hamas gunmen stormed a Fatah security headquarters in Gaza City today, moving Palestinians closer to civil war, minutes after a deadline from the Islamist group to its rival to quit key strongholds expired.

President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction said its Central Committee would meet at 8 p.m. 2230 hrs to decide whether to remain in the unity government it formed with Hamas in March in a bid to stop internal violence and ease Western sanctions.

In an ultimatum verging on a declaration of war, Hamas's armed wing had given Fatah until 1030 hrs to evacuate the military intelligence, presidential guard, national security and preventive security headquarters in Gaza City.

After the deadline passed, Hamas fighters attacked a large compound controlled by the Fatah-dominated national security forces in Gaza and surrounded the city's main security complex.

Heavy gunfire and explosions could be heard but there were no reports of casualties.

Rejecting Hamas's demands, Fatah spokesman Abdel-Hakim Awad said, ''The security forces will not pay attention to that nonsense and will defend the security headquarters with all their might.'' Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a power struggle that has touched off a wave of fighting in which at least 20 people have been killed since Saturday.

In fresh flareups, gunmen fired at the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and at Abbas's office. No one was hurt.

Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades declared a state of emergency in Gaza, saying it was on an offensive footing.

Abbas issued an appeal for an immediate ceasefire and further meetings between the warring factions and Egyptian mediators. Past truces have collapsed quickly.

BRUTALITY The violence, described by Gazans as more brutal than in the past, has included a shootout in a hospital, dropping foes to their deaths from high-rise buildings and the execution-style slaying of a Fatah field commander outside his home.

In one incident, Hamas gunmen burned down the house of a leader of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, prompting him to vow: ''A house for a house and blood for blood. I swear to God I will kill every Hamas person, a civilian or military.'' Hamas gunmen swept into Fatah posts across the coastal territory, capturing some in battles and others without a fight, local residents said. They describing the northern and central Gaza Strip as under Hamas control.

Fatah said said the positions were of minor importance.

In the latest violence, two gunmen, one from Hamas and the other from Fatah, were killed in the central Gaza Strip.

Gunmen also abducted and then killed a member of Hamas's armed wing, a nephew of Abdel Aziz-Rantissi, a Hamas leader assassinated by Israel in 2004.

The bloodshed followed fighting yesterday in which at least 14 people were killed. Their deaths raised to about 630 the number of Palestinians killed in internal strife since Hamas came to power in early 2006.

In a widening of the conflict, Abbas's Presidential Guard seized equipment in an office of Hamas's al-Aqsa television in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a security source said.

The station, which broadcasts from Gaza, said three staff were detained, and Hamas demanded their release.

REUTERS GI BST2126