Abbas's forces, militants clash in W.Bank, 1 dead

By Ali Samoudi

QABATYA, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian civilian was killed on Tuesday when President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces clashed with militants for the first time since launching a law-and-order push in the northern West Bank.

Islamic Jihad said two of its fighters were hurt when clashes broke out between gunmen and security forces trying to assert control in the small town of Qabatya, a Palestinian militant stronghold near the city of Jenin.

The group vowed to "raise the rifle" against anyone who stood in the way of "resistance" against Israel, showing the challenge Abbas faces as he tries to rein in militants -- Israel's main condition for Palestinian statehood.

General Diyab al-Ali, head of National Security Forces in the West Bank, said hundreds of forces, who deployed to Jenin on Saturday for the biggest stage of a U.S.-backed security campaign, had entered Qabatya and now had control.

Washington hopes the security push will show the Palestinians are laying the ground for statehood ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the region next week. Bush wants Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to strike a peace deal this year.

Residents in Qabatya said civilian Mo'men Fawwaz Kmeil, 20, was shot as he tried to escape the clashes.

Palestinian forces said the man was killed when an "outlawed group" opened fire on the security men, adding they would investigate and were determined to impose law and order and confiscate illegal weapons, even by force.

The Jenin deployment by Abbas's forces, some of whom receive U.S.-funded training in Jordan, follows a similar mission in Nablus late last year.