Killing of Arafat's Cousin Triggers Turmoil

The Palestinian leadership was facing a major challenge to its authority in Gaza last night after a former security chief and relative of Yasser Arafat was dragged from his home by dozens of armed men and shot dead.

Moussa Arafat was shot in the head more than 20 times after being forced into the street in his pyjamas by gunmen who blamed him for corruption and for collaborating with Israelis. They also kidnapped his son, Manhal Arafat, and said they would execute him if they decided he was also implicated in corruption.

The attack was further evidence of the freedom with which armed groups act in Gaza, at a time when Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, hopes to demonstrate to the world the Palestinian Authority's ability to run areas under its control.

While the PA has large numbers of police officers in the Gaza Strip it has little credibility when compared to the armed groups which made life so uncomfortable for the Israelis in Gaza. Sources close to Mr Abbas said he had no choice but to take strong action, particularly because the gunmen were affiliated to his own Fatah faction.

The gunmen, from the Popular Resistance Committees, a group mostly from Fatah but also including Islamic militants, arrived in a group of around 100 at the Arafat home in Gaza City. They fired bullets and missiles at the house and Arafat's bodyguards returned fire.

After around 30 minutes the gunmen overwhelmed the bodyguards and were able to blow up the gate to the house. Arafat was taken out to the street and shot in the head more than 20 times.

It is still not clear whether the son, who is in his 30s, is still alive. Yesterday evening Egyptian officials were mediating with the PRC to win his release. Sources in Gaza said allies of Arafat planned to take hostages in order to secure the release of the son.

Sufian Abu Zaida, the Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs, said the Gaza branch of the Arafat family had few friends.

"People may be against the way he was killed but Moussa Arafat represented the worst examples of corruption among those who abused their power for their own personal gain," he said. "However, this act does not contribute to the maintenance of law and order at all."

Mohammed Abdel Al, the spokesman for the PRC, which was also implicated in the killing of three American security guards in 2003, said: "Today's operation was a result of Moussa Arafat's years of corruption and collaboration with the Israelis. We are questioning his son and if he is found guilty, we will kill him too," he said.

He said he would produce a dossier detailing Arafat's guilt within a couple of days.

Arafat, 65, was a fighter with Fatah until he returned to Gaza after the 1993 Oslo peace agreement, where he was put in charge of military intelligence. He was involved in a major clampdown in 1996 on Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

When Yasser Arafat tried to put his cousin in overall charge of Palestinian security forces, he was forced to back down by large demonstrations in Gaza.

Arafat is believed to have used his authority to take land and money from Gazans. It was also common for security chiefs to insist on payment from recruits in return for jobs.

Arafat was also accused of being involved in Israel's assasination of Yehya Ayash, the Hamas bomb-maker who was killed by an exploding mobile phone.

Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian minister, said an investigating committee had been formed to bring the killers to justice.

"This is very alarming especially in the days before Israel hands over the territories it controls," he said, referring Israel's planned military evacuation of the Gaza settlements in the coming weeks.

"Now the whole world is watching how we maintain order. It is a very serious challenge to Abu Mazen [Mr Abbas] and I just hope this is the end of vendettas rather than the beginning."