GAZA CITY: Hamas crushed a nascent uprising by an Al-Qaeda-inspired group after a nightlong battle in Rafah that ended early Saturday with the death of its leader.
Abdel-Latif Moussa, the leader of Jund Ansar Allah, set off explosives attached to his body, killing himself and a mediator Hamas sent to persuade him to surrender, said Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussin.
The ministry said in a statement that 22 people, including Moussa who called himself Abu Al-Nur Al-Maqdisi, died in the hours-long gunbattles at a mosque and Moussa's house. The dead included nine of Moussa's followers, six police officers and six civilians, two of whom were children. More than 120 people were wounded, the statement added.
The fighting erupted at the end of Friday prayers at Ibn Taymeyah Mosque in Al-Barazil neighborhood of Rafah after Moussa declared an Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip. Ambulances ferried casualties to Al-Najar Hospital all night amid the heavy fighting. After the fighting ended early Saturday the town of Rafah was sealed off to the media.
The worst inter-Palestinian violence since Hamas seized Gaza from its Western-backed rivals two years ago exposed bitter tensions in the blockaded coastal strip.
The group "wanted a return to anarchy," said Al-Ghussin. "We have said there is no chance of a return to anarchy." He held Moussa fully responsible for the clashes and accused him of being in direct contact with the leaders of the security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.
Palestinian Minster of Waqf and Religious Affaires Mahmoud Al-Habbash rejected that accusation. "It is a ridiculous discourse that does not deserve any response. Everybody in the Gaza Strip knows that it is Hamas that planted extremism with its a coup in 2007."
Al-Habbash accused Hamas of opening the Gaza Strip to foreign extremist elements in the absence of a legitimate Palestinian authority. "We confirm information that non-Palestinian extremist elements have arrived in Gaza and begun to thrive."
He said the deadly clashes were only the beginning and that the Palestinian people will be the ultimate losers.
After Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chaired a meeting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the violence showed Hamas was turning Gaza into a base for anti-Western radicals. "Hamas is repeating the Somali and Afghan experiences in Gaza and letting places of worship be turned into clannish centers that promote extremism," the PLO statement said.
- With input from Mohammed Mar'i and agencies
