Five Palestinian gunmen and a child were killed in the occupied territories yesterday by the Israeli army, which also captured the militant leader suspected of masterminding last month's suicide attack in Haifa. Israeli troops shot dead two activists from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - an armed offshoot of the mainstream Fatah movement - during clashes in the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin last night, Palestinian medical sources said. Earlier, four Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, Mahmud Al Qayed, 11, was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell as he played with friends in a rural area near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Palestinian medics said. Two relatives belonging to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were also killed in a clash between Palestinians and Israeli troops near the fence between the southeastern Gaza Strip. **Mayor's house occupied*** Israeli forces were also reinforced in the nearby town of al-Yamoon, according to Aljazeera reports. They stormed and occupied the mayor's house, using it as a place to interrogate Palestinians. The army detained ten family members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader Ibrahim Abahra and set one of their houses ablaze, in a drive to capture the wanted resistance activist. The raids followed similar incursions on Friday in which the Israeli army demolished three houses while attempting to capture senior Islamic Jihad member Amjad Abaidi, who is accused of planning the bombing in Haifa last month which killed 21 people. Israelis demolished four houses in the eastern area of Jenin and while pulling out of the area killed Ahmad Shaharna, an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades activist, Aljazeera's correspondent reported. **Arafat keeps control*** Meanwhile, Palestinian President Yasir Arafat's Fatah faction backed him retaining control of security services, as Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya signalled a possible end to a power struggle with the president. "You decide on the names (for a new government) and I will accept your decision," Quraya was quoted as telling the Fatah central committee by a Palestinian official on Saturday. Officials said Fatah - the dominant party in the Palestinian parliament - voted on Friday night for an Arafat loyalist, Hakam Balawi, to become the security chief in a new cabinet and rejected Quraya's nominee. Fatah attempted to soften the blow to Quraya's power by appointing his man, General Nasir Yusuf, to a national security council headed by Arafat that has overarching authority over security services. **Power struggle*** Arafat's refusal to cede security powers to his prime minister's choice is likely to anger the United States and Israel. They have attempted to sideline Arafat and Israel has accused him of fomenting violence, a charge he denies. The power struggle between Arafat and Quraya over control of Palestinian security forces has been delaying the formation of a government and any chance of talks with Israel to revive the moribund peace "road map". "It has also approved that the national security council headed by Arafat would be in charge of overall security," the official said. "This decision was taken while Quraya was at the meeting." Arafat had converted Quraya's emergency cabinet into a caretaker government on Tuesday, hours before a deadline for a more permanent government, to allow time to resolve the dispute. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinians carry a wounded youth shot by Israeli troops in Gaza Nov. 7, 2003. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)