RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – Palestinian militants angry at the jailing of their leader by Palestinian police stole two bulldozers Wednesday and rammed through a wall near the border with Egypt, hours after they blocked the official border crossing and took over government buildings.

The gunmen, who belong to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party, rammed through the massive wall as a show of force against the Palestinian Authority. They had not breached a second wall directly on the border with Egypt.

The militants’ rampage through the southern Gaza town of Rafah underscored the growing lawlessness in Palestinian towns, especially in Gaza. Abbas, who has condemned the chaos, has been unable to impose order, and his failure to keep the gunmen in check is expected to harm Fatah’s prospects in Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.

Fatah-affiliated vigilantes demanding government jobs or the release of imprisoned friends have been responsible for much of the anarchy, particularly since Israel’s pullout from Gaza in September.

The tightly run Islamic militant group Hamas, whose followers have rarely been involved in vigilante violence, is expected to do well in the vote against the corruption-tainted Fatah. Hamas, which opposes the existence of Israel, has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks.

The latest rampage began Tuesday, when Palestinian intelligence arrested Al Aqsa militant Alaa al-Hams on suspicion he and his followers kidnapped British human rights activist Kate Burton and her parents for two days last week. The Burtons were among 19 foreigners abducted by Fatah gunmen in Gaza in recent months. All have been freed unharmed.

Al-Hams followers then fired at the Palestinian security headquarters in the southern town of Rafah where he was held. Police and gunmen fired in the air, but there were no injuries.

On Wednesday morning, some 40 masked gunmen took over the central election office in Rafah, the local branch of the Palestinian parliament, a court and another government building. Gunmen were seen on rooftops, inside the buildings and posted at the main doors. Most workers fled.

A truckload of gunmen then drove to the nearby Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s main gate to the world.

Firing in the air, they closed the entrance gate to the crossing compound and told waiting passengers to leave. They also set up an impromptu checkpoint at the access road to the crossing, turning away travelers.

They left the buildings and the crossing after three hours.

But hours later, with al-Hams still in jail, the militants stole two bulldozers in Rafah and headed for the massive wall several hundred yards from the border. The wall keeps Palestinians out of the Philadelphi corridor next to a smaller wall that marks the official border with Egypt.

“We are going to do everything we can to pressure the authority to release our leader,” said an Al Aqsa leader who gave his name as Abu Hassan.

The Rafah crossing was handed to Palestinian control, under European supervision, as part of a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel last month. Since then, the crossing was forced to shut down several times during attacks by gunmen.

Salima Abu Maghaseeb, 42, said she was angry over the disruption of her plans to travel to Egypt with her daughter for her daughter’s wedding this week.

“I don’t know why the Palestinian Authority is allowing them to do this,” said Abu Maghaseeb, who had her documents checked at the impromptu roadblock. “Those people should use their guns … to protect people and not to come and terrify us. They can go to the border and clash with the Israelis. God only knows what the future holds for Gaza.”

A spokesman for the European observers, Julio de la Guardia, said the disruptions outside the crossing were an internal Palestinian matter.

“Our functioning at the border crossing has not been disturbed,” he said.

In other chaos, Palestinian gunmen burst into a Rafah house early Wednesday and tried to kidnap the parents of Rachel Corrie, an American who was killed in 2003 as she protested the impending demolition of a house in the southern Gaza town, according to a witness.

The five gunmen appeared to be affiliated with the ruling Fatah movement, according to Samir Nasrallah, the Corries’ host, but it was not clear if they were from the same group that blockaded the border. The gunmen eventually relented after being told who their targets were, he said.