Palestinian militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Fatah movement, parade with their weapons in Gaza City. Militants loosely affiliated to the Fatah party of Mahmud Abbas stormed public offices in Nablus under a hail of gunfire, accusing the Palestinian leader of failing to honour security promises.(AFP/File/Mohammed Abed)
Palestinian militants storm Nablus offices to denounce Abbas
(AFP)
5 June 2005
NABLUS, West Bank - Militants loosely affiliated to the Fatah party of Mahmud Abbas stormed public offices in Nablus under a hail of gunfire Sunday, accusing the Palestinian leader of failing to honour security promises.
The band of 20 militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades barged into the local interior ministry office in the northern West Bank city, opened fire and ordered everyone out, Palestinian security sources said.
The gang then stormed the governor’s office at the other end of town, ordered out all staff under gunfire and lightly wounded one man, they added.
Nablus governor Mahmud al-Uol was in Ramallah at the time.
“We demand that the Palestinian Authority, especially Abu Mazen (Abbas), keeps their promises. He promised us jobs in the security services and that he would secure our safety. We have seen none of it,” Al-Aqsa said in a statement.
The organisation accused Israel of still trying to track, arrest or kill its members despite promising at a Middle East peace summit in February to halt such operations.
“We are still observing the ceasefire, but the Israeli army is still pursuing us and trying to kill or arrest us,” said Al-Aqsa.
Abbas made security reform a major priority after being elected leader in January following the death of Yasser Arafat. Since his election, Palestinian militant groups have been observing a de facto truce on the ground.
The Al-Aqsa brigades, while loosely associated with Fatah, is largely autonomous from the mainstream party. The group was founded at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.