Militants defy call to disarm

LEADING militant groups in Palestinian territories vowed yesterday to defy President Mahmoud Abbas’s bid to disarm hundreds of gunmen wanted by Israel.

Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected Abbas’s efforts outright while al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of his own Fatah movement, appeared divided on how to respond.

Abbas, elected in January to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, took action after a group of militants fired at his West Bank compound and went on a shooting rampage in Ramallah last week.