Four militants and soldier killed in Gaza violence

FOUR Palestinian militants and an Israeli soldier were killed yesterday in the heaviest Gaza fighting since Yasser Arafat’s death, raising the prospect that renewed violence could complicate a vote for his successor.

Adding to uncertainty over the January 9 election, jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi was considering dropping out of the race against Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate backed by Israel and Washington as a potential peacemaker.

Before dawn yesterday, Hamas gunmen detonated a bomb hidden in a chicken coop that troops were searching and opened fire, killing one soldier and wounding four.