Palestine Liberation Organisation Chairman Mahmud Abbas (R) is protected by bodyguards, as shots were fired while he was visiting a mourning tent at the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat 's Gaza City headquarters, Nov. 14, 2004.(Xinhua/AFP photo)

    GAZA, Nov. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Mahmoud Abbas, newly-named chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on Sunday escaped unharmed from an exchange of fire which he insisted was the result of a feud between gunmen rather than an assassination attempt.

    Two people were killed in the incident when militants burst into a mourning tent in Gaza City set up for late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, where Abbas planned to reach to accept condolences.

    About 30 unidentified gunmen stormed the tent to protest against Abbas' presence and they opened fire to the air for several minutes, witnesses said.

    Abbas' bodyguards returned fired. Abbas was later escorted to Palestinian headquarters, the witnesses said.

    Abbas later denied the shootout was aimed at him, saying: "Whathappened in the mourning tent does not have any personal or political meaning."

    He said it was a haphazard shooting caused by the outburst of emotions for late leader Arafat.

    Former Palestinian interior security minister Mohamed Dahlan also denied that there was an assassination attempt targeting Abbas.

    Yasser Abed Rabbo, member of the PLO executive committee, echoed Dahlan's view by saying that what happened in Gaza was not a planned assassination attempt, and the chaos was caused by the overcrowdedness in the tent.

    Hundreds of mourners were inside the tent at that time, including militants, police, security forces and representatives of various Palestinian groups and factions, including the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War).

    Abbas arrived in Gaza late Sunday from Ramallah in the West Bank for dialogue with Palestinian factions.

    Official Palestinian sources said a joint meeting of PLO executive committee and the mainstream Fatah movement's central committee earlier on Sunday nominated Abbas as its candidate to run for the presidential elections slated for Jan. 9, 2005.

    However, Abbas on Sunday denied he was chosen to be Fatah candidate to run for the presidential elections.

    "It is still premature," Abbas told reporters. "The question would be discussed by Fatah movement's revolutionary council."

    He said the Fatah central committee and its revolutionary council were the two bodies to make the decision.

    Abbas, 69, was chosen to chair the PLO on Thursday after Arafat's death on Thursday at a French hospital. Enditem