Hamas Fighters Seize Control Of Fatah Security Installation
http://www.kcci.com/2007/0614/13501136.jpg { Shirtless Fatah supporters are led away after Hamas militants took control of Fatah's Preventive Security headquarters, Gaza City} OK NOW THIS IS FOCKED UP!
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- As his Hamas rivals move toward a takeover of Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is declaring a state of emergency.
He's also dismantling the coalition between his Fatah allies and their foes in Hamas -- and he's firing the prime minister, who's from Hamas.
Abbas said he'll form a new government. An aide said he's also considering early elections at some point.
The aide said Abbas considers the Hamas fighters who've seized control of most of the Fatah-allied security headquarters in Gaza to be an "outlaw militia."
Today, the Hamas fighters overran two of the Fatah movement's most important security command centers in the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said they then dragged the defeated gunmen into the street and shot them to death, execution style.
There's also word that Hamas has seized control of Gaza's third-largest city, Rafah, giving the group control along the border with Egypt.
At least 26 people were killed in fighting Thursday and about 90 people were killed since a spike in violence started on Sunday.
One witness, Jihad Abu Ayad, said Hamas gunmen have been bringing men out of the building and executing them in the street in front of their wives and children.
Earlier Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah for the first time ordered his elite presidential guards to strike back at Hamas militants.
But his forces are crumbling under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Islamic fighters.