| US officials have criticized the Palestinian Authority for failing to prevent the escape on Wednesday night of three Palestinians who were being held in a Gaza City prison on suspicion of involvement in the attack on a US diplomatic convoy last October. As part of the criticism, the US State Department on Saturday published for the first time since the PA announced its decision to put the men on trial two months ago an advertisement in the daily Al-Quds offering a reward to anyone who provides information leading to their capture. Three US security guards were killed in the attack. Last week, gunmen belonging to the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, stormed the prison and helped three of the four suspects escape. The gunmen claimed they had come to visit the detainees, but once they were inside they began shooting indiscriminately, eyewitnesses said. A fourth suspect, who is being held in solitary confinement by the Preventative Security Service, did not escape, they added. Palestinian journalists in Gaza City said they believed the "attack" on the prison was coordinated with senior PA security officials. "I don't think this was a raid," said one journalist, noting that the prison was heavily guarded and it didn't seem logical that a few gunmen would be able to overcome all the policemen there. "Someone in the PA wanted the suspects freed." |