The Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday blamed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party for the killing of two Hamas militants during a gun battle in the West Bank.

Three Palestinian policemen and the owner of the house where the Hamas militants were based also died in the fierce clashes in Qalqilya city early Sunday, witnesses and security sources said.

"We hold Abu Mazen (Abbas) the personal responsibility for the assassination of the holy fighters and his role in uprooting the resistance," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

"We don't excuse Fatah leaders from this responsibility because they always beat the drum and hail everything Abu Mazen does," Barhoum added.

Hamas, which holds sway in the Gaza Strip, accused Abbas and his Fatah party of clamping down against the Islamic movement and the armed groups in the West Bank.

"This serious crime continues the tasks of the Zionist occupation against our Palestinian people," Barhoum explained.

Sunday's clashes were the deadliest between Hamas and pro-Abbas forces in the West Bank since Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip and Abbas consolidated his reign in the West Bank in June 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2009)