Security chief killed in Gaza

A Gaza security chief loyal to moderate President Mahmoud Abbas was killed in a car bomb today, the second attack on security commanders in volatile Gaza in less than a week.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The attack came during an increasingly bloody power struggle between the Hamas government and Abbas.

The security chief killed was identified as Nabil Hodhod, head of the elite Preventive Security Service in central Gaza.

Security officials said Hodhod had just gotten into his car when a bomb went off. Hodhod was killed and his deputy wounded by the blast, the officials said.