Hospital officials said two members of Fatah's security forces were wounded in Tuesday's clashes, one seriously, in the southern
A spokesman for Hamas's police force said two of their men had been wounded, one critically.
Each side accused the other of starting the gunfight. The Hamas spokesman said members of Abbas's forces had been protesting and attacking public buildings.
Tension
Early on Tuesday, heavily armed members of the security forces that take their orders from Abbas took up positions around key installations and road junctions in
"Palestinian security forces deployed in all streets of
Security forces loyal to the Hamas government also strengthened their positions. There was no immediate sign of friction between the Abbas and Hamas loyalists.
Mourners protest
Scores of children on their way to school paid their respects at a mourning tent erected in
A senior Palestinian intelligence official in the occupied
Besides internal political unrest,
Abbas and Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, said they had urged the authorities to find the killers.
Political tension has been rising over the failure of Hamas and the formerly dominant Fatah movement to form a unity government that Palestinians hope might end the Western boycott.
Abbas aides said on Saturday that the president planned to call early elections after talks on a unity government foundered. Hamas accused Abbas of trying to topple the government, which came to power after beating Fatah in elections last January.
Unity talks broke down over Hamas's rejection of Western demands that it recognise Israel, and its insistence on holding the interior and finance portfolios in any new government.
Abbas was elected separately in early 2005.
