RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A gunbattle sparked by militants confronting moderate interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on a visit to Gaza underscores the urgent need for elections to replace Yasser Arafat, Palestinian officials said.

Abbas, 69, is the likely candidate of the veteran caretaker leadership for president in Jan. 9 elections but lacks popular support. He narrowly escaped injury on Sunday when he got caught in a firefight between bodyguards and militants opposed to him.

The latest sign of a feared power vacuum came when gunmen from Arafat's Fatah movement fired into the air in anger when Abbas arrived to take condolences in a mourning tent for the Palestinians' revered ex-guerrilla leader, who died last week.

A shootout with Abbas's security men broke out and two of them were killed as he was thrown to the floor by bodyguards and then hustled through the melee to safety.

The gunmen chanted "No to Abu Mazen," using the nickname of the man they see as Israel's "stooge" for backing peace talks and condemning militant violence as a disservice to Palestinians' goal of a state on occupied land.