Gaza gunmen ambush Palestinian intelligence chief
Brigadier-General Tareq Abu Rajab was acting boss of the General Intelligence Service since its head resigned last month amid unprecedented Palestinian unrest over demands for anti-corruption reform.
Rajab, aged 58, was close to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, but was not widely seen as taking sides in a power struggle that pits younger leaders who say they want change against an old guard accused of graft and failing to win a state. The tussle for control has been triggered by Israel's plan to withdraw troops and settlers next year from the territory it has occupied since the 1967 war.
Gunmen fired from two moving cars as Abu Rajab drove to his office in Gaza City, security sources said.
Two of Abu Rajab's bodyguards were killed and another wounded. Medics said the commander was in serious condition and undergoing surgery.
"It's a sinful crime and it is condemned by everybody. We are confident that the criminals will not escape punishment," Rashid Abu Shbak, head of internal security in the Gaza Strip, said after visiting Abu Rajab in hospital.
"The Palestinian Authority must carry out decisive procedures to stop the security deterioration, which has started to harm Palestinian leaders."
The attack on Abu Rajab came just before a Palestinian parliamentary committee was due to present a report expected to call for urgent reforms, to help end the worst internal unrest since Palestinians gained a measure of self-rule a decade ago.
Violence surged in Gaza last month, when gunmen demanding changes to at least a dozen rival security forces and the sacking of corrupt commanders briefly kidnapped local officials and foreign aid workers, then set some security posts ablaze.
The then head of General Intelligence, Amin al-Hindi, resigned as a result of the chaos.
Arafat refused to let him go, but al-Hindi has not returned to his job.
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