Palestinian officials on Sunday discovered a large roadside bomb that they said was intended to assassinate a top security official closely allied with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The 70-kilogram (154-pound) bomb was planted on a road linking Rashid Abu Shbak's home to his office. Abu Shbak is the only senior official to use the road.
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The discovery of the bomb heightened tensions between Abbas' Fatah movement and the rival Hamas-led government.
Tensions have already been soaring in the past week, and this is not the first assassination attempt targeting a top Fatah official. On Saturday, Abbas' intelligence chief narrowly survived an attempt on his life but was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded at the PA’s General Intelligence headquarters in Gaza City. Fatah blamed Hamas for the attack.
In April, Abbas placed Abu Shbak in charge of three security agencies that were supposed to report to the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry. Hamas responded by announcing the formation of its own security force, which went into operation last week with a crew made up of 3,000 armed Hamas loyalists.
The security force was deployed despite direct orders from Abbas not to form the unit. Since it went into operation, Hamas’ new security force has had numerous clashed with officers in the other three security agencies that answer to Abbas.
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