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Palestinian policeman shot in West Bank fight

Posted on: Friday, 21 October 2005, 15:58 CDT

TULKARM, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian policeman was critically wounded on Friday in a West Bank gunfight that officers had tried to break up, police said.

The shooting in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm underscored the difficulties faced by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in reining in a wave of lawlessness in the territory Palestinians seek for a state.

Police officials said half a dozen officers rushed to the scene of the shootout between two Palestinian men outside a cafe. One of the policemen was shot in the stomach after police fired into the air to try to restore order.

The wounded officer, 29, was rushed to nearby Tulkarm hospital where he was listed in critical condition. Police arrested a suspect, the officials said.

The shooting in a town Israel handed over to Palestinian police control some months ago was the latest of a series of incidents in the Palestinian territories where gunmen have defied Abbas's efforts to keep weapons off the streets.

In their Washington summit on Thursday, U.S. President George W. Bush urged Abbas to crack down on "armed gangs" to advance to peace talks with Israel.

It was not clear whether either of the men involved in the gunfight belonged to militant groups.

Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 Middle East War, an area now home to 2.4 million Palestinians and 245,000 Israeli settlers.

Source: REUTERS

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