Ramallah - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sacked his chief of intelligence, Tawfiq Tirawi, officials at his office confirmed Wednesday.

Abbas issued a presidential decree, appointing Tirawi, 61, a security advisor to the president with the rank of minister, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Tirawi will also continue to serve as director of the Jericho- based security academy he helped set up with European assistance two years ago

Abbas appointed the general's deputy, Muhammad Mansour, as acting chief of intelligence.

Abbas advisor Yasser Abed Rabbo Abbo denied Wednesday that the president's move had had any political implications ahead of the reconciliation talks next month between Abbas' Fatah movement and its bitter rival, the Islamist Hamas movement.

He told a news conference that the dismissal had been due to have taken place last year but was postponed until now for merely professional reasons.

The Palestinian Maan news agency quoted "a high-ranking Palestinian official" as saying that Triawi was "not surprised" by Abbas' move, and had known for two months that he was going to have to leave his post.

The officials at Abbas' office told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Tirawi, who has served as the West Bank head of the General Intelligence Service since the mid-1990s and became its overall chief three years ago, reached the age of retirement last year and so had to step down under the Palestinian civil service law. It stipulates that non-elected Palestinian officials must retire at 60.

Abbas however had extended Tirawi's tenure by one year amid the emergency situation that had arisen from the June 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip by the militant Hamas movement.

The officials in Ramallah would not confirm reports that Abbas had also sacked National Security chief Diad al-Ali, an outspoken Hamas critic also known as Abu al-Fatah, who in a recent meeting with Israeli military officials called for joint operations against Hamas strongholds in the West Bank.

Analysts however noted that that the timing of Tirawi's dismissal coincided with the start of Egyptian-mediated reconciliation talks in Cairo on November 9.

Tirawi is a member of Abbas' Fatah movement which has been entangled in a bitter power struggle with the radical Islamic Hamas since the latter unexpectedly beat the secular Fatah in January 2006 parliamentary elections.

The power struggle culminated in Hamas violently taking over the Gaza Strip by overpowering the headquarters of Fatah-dominated security forces answering to Abbas in the summer of last year.

Both Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum and the officials at Abbas' office denied the dismissal was aimed at appeasing Hamas ahead of the talks in Cairo.

Another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, argued that Tirawi "was not fired, he was promoted to security advisor, and was given the rank of a minister and became the chief of the security academy in Jericho."

"The person who would replace Tirawi comes from the same security school which still plays the role of protecting the occupation and cracking down on Palestinian resistance," he said.

Hamas had called for the dismissal of Tirawi, along with al-Ali and two other senior Palestinian security officials in the West Bank, for their role in the West Bank crackdown against Hamas members.

Hamas is demanding a thorough reform of the Palestinian security forces as well as of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), of which it is not a member, as part of any reconciliation deal. (dpa)