Palestinian militants, angry at the jailing of their leader by the Palestinian police for kidnapping a British aid worker and her parents, stole two bulldozers Wednesday and rammed through a wall near the border with Egypt, hours after they blocked the official border crossing at Rafah 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 massive wall as a show of force against the Palestinian Authority. They had not yet breached a second wall that is directly on the border with Egypt, according to an Associated Press photographer there.

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 parliament 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 Hamas, whose followers have rarely been involved in vigilante violence, is expected to do well in the vote against the corruption-tainted Fatah.

The rampage began late Tuesday, when Palestinian intelligence arrested Alaa al-Hams, an Al Aqsa militant, on suspicion he and his followers kidnapped 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 the buildings.

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 the area. 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 and 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 later in the 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 was 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, 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, though 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.

Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as she tried to stop it from demolishing Nasrallah's house. Her parents, Craig and Cindy, have repeatedly visited Nasrallah since their daughter's death. They left Gaza safely after the attempted kidnapping, Nasrallah said.

However, according the ISM Media Group in the name of the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project,
"news reports stating that the parents of slain American human rights activist Rachel Corrie were the intended targets of an attempted kidnapping Wednesday in Gaza are incorrect. According to Craig and Cindy Corrie, contrary to news reports, the Corries were never
threatened with kidnapping, nor did gunmen burst into the house where the Corries were staying."

"In the early morning of January 4," according to the ISM, "two Palestinian men visited three American members of the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project (ORSCP) at the home where the Americans were staying in Rafah, a city on Gaza's border with Egypt. The two men reportedly wanted to hold the three foreigners in exchange for the release of a family member who was arrested by Palestinian security forces for an earlier kidnapping. The Corries were staying in a nearby home and helped to talk the men out of going through with the plan."

According to the ISM, the three intended hostages -- Rochelle Gause, Will Hewitt and Serena Becker -- were in an "apartment when the men arrived at 1:30 am. One of the two men was carrying a weapon. The men arrived in two cars with other passengers who remained inside the vehicles."

The Corries said they "drank tea" with the visitors and in the end shook hands with them and received compliments from them about their daughter Rachel. The parents of the bulldozered activist issued a statement blaming Israel: "the continued Israeli occupation undermines the ability of Palestinians to have a free society," they said.

The AP contributed to this report.