GAZA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The armed wing of the Islamist Hamas group called on Wednesday on militants in the West Bank to use force if security men loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction try to arrest them.

Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, Hamas's armed wing, issued the call after it said Fatah security forces had detained two of its gunmen in the West Bank city of Hebron.

"We call upon our people and the (fighters) to defend themselves by all available means against any attempt to arrest them by (Fatah security) services, which are now working as a unit of the Zionist army," the brigades said in a statement.

The statement could raise tensions in the West Bank, where Fatah -- whose forces lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas fighters in June 2007 -- holds sway and is engaged in a U.S.-backed security campaign.

In the West Bank, Palestinian police spokesman Adnan Damiri said: "These are irresponsible words and they know their actions fuel sedition and attack the legitimate authority."

Hamas said some 300 of its members had been detained by Fatah in the West Bank over the past year, and about half remained in custody.

Fatah has said Hamas has arrested several hundred of its men in the Gaza Strip since the takeover and at least 150 are still in jail. (Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Andrew Roche)

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