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GAZA - Hamas Islamists detained an adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas' Government and three Fatah mourners have been killed in an explosion, fuelling tensions between rival Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said its forces took Omar al-Ghoul, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, from his home in the highest-profile detention since the group seized the coastal strip in June after routing Abbas' secular Fatah faction.
Abbas and Fayyad's Government condemned the abduction and accused Hamas of setting off an explosion that ripped through a funeral procession for three militants. They had been killed in an Israeli air strike last week.
Medical officials said at least three Fatah mourners were killed and 35 were wounded in the funeral blast.
Hamas security officials said a mourner taking part in the procession accidentally dropped a grenade into the crowd. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told a news conference Hamas "had him", although he declined to name the suspect.
Factional tensions rose as Hamas prepared to mark the 20th anniversary of the group's founding with mass rallies in Gaza.
Hamas said similar demonstrations have been banned by Abbas in the occupied West Bank, where Fatah holds sway. Abu Zuhri accused Fatah of trying to "poison the atmosphere" ahead of the Hamas rallies and called on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to order the banning of Gaza rallies by Fatah for their anniversary day on January 1.
- Reuters
