Hamas gunmen ambush Gaza convoy, six killed

[oberliner]

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas gunmen ambushed what the Islamist group said was a convoy carrying military equipment to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's guard unit in Gaza on Thursday and six people were killed, local residents said.

Abbas's Fatah faction said the four-truck convoy, which had crossed from Israel, was carrying medical goods and tents, and accused Hamas of seriously endangering a three-day-old ceasefire.

Hospital officials said 50 people, including two children, were wounded in the clash, the fiercest since Tuesday's truce largely halted five days of gun battles between Hamas and Fatah in which 33 Palestinians were killed.

Two presidential guard officers, a member of a military intelligence unit loyal to Abbas, a Hamas member, and two civilians were killed in a battle between Hamas gunmen and presidential guards accompanying the convoy, the residents said.

"A real war is taking place. Gunmen are using the heaviest arms they have," said one witness, declining to be identified.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070202/wl_nm/palestinians_dc_42