'Death squad' dismantled in Gaza

The al-Aqsa brigades are to be merged with other militias

The Palestinian Authority has said it is disbanding a small security unit in Gaza accused of human rights abuses.

A senior official said the 70 members of the Department of Protection and Security, known as the "Death Squad", would be re-assigned to other units.

The unit was formed more than a year ago in response to attacks by opposition factions against the Palestinian Authority.

Critics say some of the unit's members turned into criminals.

We must clear the air of past mistakes Rashid Abu Shbak Palestinian security official

They allegedly confiscated land, smuggled weapons and intimidated the public.

Correspondents say Palestinian reformers, as well as Israeli and American officials, have long demanded a major overhaul of the Palestinian security services.

Meanwhile the interim Palestinian leadership has arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

They are expected to discuss January's elections for a Palestinian Authority president.

But violence continued on Saturday, with the killing of a lecturer in an explosion at Gaza's al-Azhar University.

Reuters news agency quoted Palestinian security sources as saying the violence was part of internal unrest.

'Farewell to chaos'

Rashid Abu Shbak, head of Palestinian preventive security, said the unit had become "a source of accusation and doubts".

"We are facing a new phase and we must say farewell to chaos and to all those who cause it in the Palestinian street," he said. "We must clear the air of past mistakes of the previous era."

Mr Shbak, who is an official in the Fatah movement, also said Fatah would merge its armed militias, including the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis.

He said there had to be a centralised leadership which was responsible for their actions.

Correspondents say the disbanding of the unit follows calls for a shake-up of competing security forces and anti-corruption reforms as lawlessness rages in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mahmoud Abbas hopes to curb the unrest ahead of presidential elections on 9 January, they say.

Mr Abbas' position as frontrunner in the election has been strengthened by the withdrawal of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti from the race