3 April, 2005	Sunday	23 Safar 1426

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RAMALLAH, April 2: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday placed West Bank security services on a ‘state of alert’ in a bid to curb rampant security chaos, a Palestinian security official said. Troops began deploying across main West Bank cities, just hours after the Palestinian leader ordered similar measures in Ramallah following an incident earlier this week in which militants opened fire inside his Muqataa headquarters compound.

The move came hours after Mr Abbas dismissed West Bank national security chief, Gen Haj Ismail Jaber, over the shooting incident late on Wednesday.

Hundreds of members of the various Palestinian security forces were patrolling in Ramallah “to assure order and security” even though Israel has yet to officially transfer control in the city to the Palestinians.

Mr Abbas also sacked Yunis al Has, security chief for Ramallah, where the shooting rampage highlighted persistent lawlessness in the occupied territories.

INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: Earlier it emerged that West Bank intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi had offered to resign over the shooting, but that it had not yet been accepted.

“He did this because of the corruption and the shooting against the president’s office, which the security forces have done nothing about,” an official said of the resignation.

The shooting prompted Mr Abbas to order a crackdown in a bid to stem the growing security chaos.

The gunmen fired a volley into the air inside the courtyard of the Muqataa headquarters after being ordered out of the compound where they had been living for months.—AFP