Abbas Escapes Injury in Gaza Gunbattle

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Palestinian militants burst into a Gaza City mourning tent set up for Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) on Sunday and fired shots in protest at the presence of his moderate successor Mahmoud Abbas, but he was unhurt, witnesses said.



They said a Palestinian security man was fatally wounded in an exchange of fire between militants and bodyguards shielding Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. He was on a visit to accept condolences for the Palestinian president, who died on Thursday.

The chaos erupted after masked gunmen from Arafat's faction-ridden Fatah (news - web sites) movement shouting "No to Abu Mazen," a critic of violence, walked by him as he stood outside the mourning tent and began firing shots into the air.

Members of Arafat's president guard hustled Abbas into the tent and threw him to the ground for his safety as shooting intensified. At the end of the clash one of the bodyguards lay dead from a head wound in the tent. Abbas, 69, was uninjured, security officials said.

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