RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with security forces that killed 22 people and posed one of the biggest challenges to Hamas since the militant group seized power in Gaza two years ago. The fighting erupted Friday when Hamas security men surrounded a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on the Egypt border where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah, or the Soldiers of the Companions of God, were holed up.
The head of the radical Islamic group, Abdel-Latif Moussa, was killed when fighting resumed after dawn Saturday, Ihab Ghussein, a Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press. He said Moussa detonated an explosives vest he was wearing during the fighting. "The so-called Moussa has committed suicide ... killing a mediator who had been sent to him to persuade him and his followers to hand themselves over to the government," Ghussein said. He said the fighting ended later in the morning.
Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said a total of 22 people, including six Hamas police officers and an 11-year-old girl, were killed in the violence that also wounded 150. The group's Web site vowed vengeance, meanwhile, saying "we swear to God to avenge the martyrs' blood and we will turn their women to widows."
Hamas security blocked all roads to Rafah and declared the town a closed military zone. They said they have arrested about 40 members of the group so far. Saeb Erekat, a senior peace negotiator with Israel and a member of the rival Fatah group in the West Bank, described the situation in Gaza as "alarming." "Gaza is going down the drain in chaos and lawlessness," he told the AP.
I've been doing this quite a long time. I'm not about to play the game. You have a choice. Either cease the baiting/trolling or continue to play the role. It's up to you.
