GAZA CITY, Aug 25 (AFP) - The acting head of the Palestinian intelligence services was seriously wounded Wednesday when gunmen ambushed his convoy and killed two bodyguards in Gaza City, security and medical sources said.
The attack targetted intelligence chief Tareq Abu Rajab's convoy near the Shatti refugee camp in the west of the city as it headed towards his local headquarters.
Rajab was wounded in the chest and arm and was initially taken to Gaza City's main Al-Shifa hospital where two other bodyguards were being treated, one of whom was in a serious condition.
Rajab was later transferred to a hospital in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, where he was immediately taken for surgery, an Israeli spokeswoman told AFP.
Palestinian sources said that one of the dead bodyguards, 27-year-old Khamis Abdel Jawad, was killed at the scene while a second, Samir Hijjo, 37, died of his injuries in hospital.
Rajab, 58, has been at the helm of the intelligence services since previous incumbent Amin al-Hindi resigned in July after a series of kidnappings in the territory.
The attack served to underscore the breakdown of law and order in the Gaza Strip which also saw the overall head of the Palestinian police force briefly kidnapped last month.
The attack on the three-vehicle convoy appeared to have been carried out from inside the coastal refugee camp by three masked men who promptly fled the scene of the shooting.
Traces of blood could be seen inside the car which had been carrying Abu Rajab while another vehicle had been riddled with bullets.
The head of preventive security, General Rashid Abu Shabak, denounced the "cowardly crime" as he visited his colleague in hospital and promised that the perpetrators "will not escape punishment".
"The Palestinian Authority must take firm measures to put an end to this deteriorating security situation to which no Palestinian official is now immune," he added.