New Palestinian clashes kill five in Gaza

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Factional clashes flared anew in the Gaza Strip between the ruling Hamas movement and president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, killing five people in less than 24 hours.

A Fatah loyalist, a Hamas member and a teenager were killed in the volatile coastal strip and another two Hamas supporters died of wounds received in an attack on Thursday night, medics said.

The clashes came after two weeks of relative calm in fighting between the rival factions, which had killed more than 30 people since mid-December and threatened to derail renewed talks over forming a unity government.

Nabil al-Jarjir, a member of armed Fatah offshoot the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was killed in the northern town of Jabaliya by troops from a controversial interior ministry force loyal to Hamas.