Gaza attack injures 10, Arafat cousin "was target"

A grenade fired at the office of a cousin of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Thursday missed its target and struck an adjacent jail, injuring 10 prisoners, Palestinian security sources said.

The sources told Reuters that the rocket-propelled grenade had been aimed at the office of Maj.-Gen. Musa Arafat, the head of Palestinian military intelligence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, at about 1530 GMT.

It missed the office and struck the roof of a prison in the same complex, the Palestinian Authority's main security centre in Gaza City, injuring 10 inmates. Seven were taken to the city's Shifa Hospital, the sources said.

Musa Arafat's office issued a statement calling the attack "a failed assassination attempt" against him by "unknown people".

One of the wounded, Yusri Abu-Muamar, 25, told Reuters: "I heard a big explosion and found myself lying on the ground with a broken arm."

Palestinian police quickly arrested three Palestinians for questioning, the sources said.

The motive for the attack was unclear. Palestinian militants have been observing a truce since June 29 in their attacks against Israel, but many have been reluctant to do so and highly critical of the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace moves.

An Israeli military source called the blast an "internal Palestinian matter" and had no further comment.