RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 20, 2006 (AFP) - The car of Al-Jazeera television's director in the West Bank, Walid Omari, and a van belonging to the Qatar-based satellite channel were torched in Ramallah on Saturday, Omari said.

Omari, who told AFP he did not know the reasons for the arson, said the fire caused serious damage in a private parking lot of the studio.

Earlier, however, an official of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, Abdul Aziz Shahin, accused Al-Jazeera in an interview of supporting the rival Hamas group. Hamas trounced Fatah in January parliamentary elections.

Shahin was being interviewed after Tareq Abu Rajab, the overall head of the Palestinian Authority intelligence services and a Fatah member, was severely wounded in an explosion in Gaza City that Fatah blamed on Hamas.

Abu Rajab's bodyguard and nephew, Ali Abu Hassira, died of his wounds shortly after the blast, and at least 15 other people were wounded in the blast and when shots were fired on the convoy transporting Abu Rajab to hospital.

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