Region | Palestinian Territories
Poll offices in West Bank and Gaza closed following Fatah raids
Palestinian officials ordered all election offices to close in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday after raids by Fatah gunmen .
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 December 13, 2005
Gaza: Palestinian officials ordered all election offices to close in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday after raids by Fatah gunmen angered over the handling of the faction's recent primaries.
"We have decided to close down all our offices in protest at the interference of gunmen who destroyed some of the offices," Ammar Dweik, head of the Palestinian Central Elections Committee, told reporterss.
Palestinian gunmen from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, firing in the air, had stormed the Palestinian election committee headquarters in the Gaza Strip and two other offices, officials said.
The gunmen burst into the offices less than an hour before rival Hamas militants were expected to register their candidate list for a parliamentary vote due in January. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
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