GAZA CITY, Sept 15: Five Palestinian intelligence officials were gunned down by unknown attackers in Gaza City on Friday near the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

The five men, one of them a general, were driving in a car in the Shatti refugee camp in Gaza City when unknown gunmen in a jeep raked their vehicle with gunfire, killing them instantly, an intelligence service official said.

The source named one of the victims as Jihad Taya, a colonel responsible for international relations within the security service. The other victims were his subordinates, the security source said.

“The bodies of five people dressed in civilian clothes and shot dead were taken to hospital,” said a hospital source.

The incident comes at a time when Hamas and its chief rival, the moderate Fatah party, are holding talks on the composition of a national unity government.—AFP