HAMAS AND FATAH CLASH AT MOSQUE LEAVES 9 WOUNDED

Rival Palestinians clash at Gaza mosque (AP)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas and Fatah loyalists clashed Saturday at a mosque in the southern Gaza Strip, leaving nine people wounded in the latest flare-up of Palestinian infighting, witnesses and medical officials said.

The melee erupted after Hamas — the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza — brought one of its own religious leaders to preside over evening prayers at a Khan Younis mosque instead of the independent cleric who usually leads the service, witnesses said.

What began as fistfights among worshippers soon degenerated into face-offs with stones and knives. Hamas security officials who arrived at the scene fired rounds in the air, then came under fire themselves from a nearby area, witnesses said.

Medical personnel in Khan Younis said nine people suffered knife and gunshot wounds, including two who were critically hurt.