| More yummy Red-on-Red violence. |
Members of AbbasÂ’s elite presidential guard, a near 4,000-strong, U.S.-backed force, took over the Hamas-run Agriculture Ministry and sent employees home, part of a move to secure a large area of downtown Gaza City where Abbas lives.
Hundreds of heavily armed men patrolled the streets and turned cars back. They were joined by masked members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group loyal to AbbasÂ’s Fatah movement. Some carried rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The security clampdown followed a dawn raid by masked gunmen on a training camp used by the presidential guard in which one guard officer was killed and at least five others were wounded, security sources said. The raid involved dozens of gunmen in uniforms similar to those worn by Hamas militants, a senior member of the presidential guard said, but Hamas denied any involvement.
| "No, no, certainly not!" |