Six Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded on Friday during fierce armed fighting between Gaza ruling Islamic Hamas police and pro-al-Qaida radical militants outside a mosque in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, medics, security sources and witnesses said.
Hamas police sources confirmed that six were killed and 40 wounded, including three children during the heavy fighting in the town. Most of the casualties came from inside the mosque, according to witnesses.
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Leader of Gaza-based Jund Ansar Allah group Abdel-Latif Moussa speaks during Friday prayers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 14, 2009.(Xinhua) |
The witnesses also said intensive gunshots and bombs explosions were heard in the neighborhood of al-Barazil in the western part of the town following heavy armed clashes between the two sides on Friday afternoon.
They added that after Friday's weekly prayers, dozens of Hamas policemen surrounded the mosque of "Iben Taymeyah" in the town after a leader of a radical group declared an Islamic Emirate in the Gaza Strip.
A leader of the Jihadi Salafi, a radical Sunnite group affiliated with the internationally-banned al-Qaida, announced earlier that his group is to establish an Islamic emirate in Gaza.
Sheikh Abelatif Musa, better known as Abu Noor al-Maqdisi, the group's spiritual leader, slammed Islamic Hamas movement for not implementing the Sharia (Islamic Law) in the territory.
Musa announced before prayers at one of the mosques in Rafah that his group is exerting efforts to reinforce the rules of Sharia in the Gaza Strip.
One of the group's militants inside the mosque told local reporters in the town that Hamas militants were trying to break into the mosque, adding that there were dozens of Hamas security forces surrounding the mosque.
He said dozens of his group's members and supporters were held into the mosque together with Sheikh Musa. They warned Hamas not to harm their spiritual leader, saying they are "fully ready in all areas of Gaza to respond to any attack happening to Dr. Musa (Abu Noor al-Maqdisi)."
During the prayers speech, members of the group, dressing like al-Qaida militants, delivered a booklet that includes the group's strategy, which is the same strategy of the world banned al-Qaida organization led by Osama Bin Laden.
Musa challenged Hamas by saying "Your threats not to let us make speeches in the mosque won't scare us," as dozens of his masked militants holding rifles surrounded the mosque. Dozens of prayers were listening to Musa's speech.
Early on Friday morning, Hamas police and security forces erected checkpoints outside the city of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip to prevent more supporters of the group from arriving at Musa's mosque.
"I call on al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas armed wing) militants to join us and I call on Hamas and the government of Hamas that if they don't implement the Sharia, they will turn into a weak Islamic party," said Musa.
The Israeli Ha'aretz Daily had earlier quoted senior Israeli security officials as saying that dozens of the worldwide Jihad militants who fought against the U.S. Army in Iraq, had recently sneaked into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Friday, deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya accused Israel of incitement against Gaza by claiming that radical Islamic extremists are active in the enclave.
Haneya denied the earlier Israeli reports which said that Arab and foreign Islamic extremist close to the worldwide Jihad group managed recently to sneak into the Gaza Strip and carry out military activities in the region.
"No foreign fanatic organizations or groups are in Gaza Strip that act against the Americans," Haneya told prayers during Friday's prayer at one of the mosques in northern Gaza Strip.
Haneya considered the report as "an attempt to bring about an international coalition against Gaza. It also reflects an Israeli standoff in how to deal with the Gaza Strip."
He also denied that his government is trying to Islamize the Gaza Strip community following certain procedures his government had recently carried out, related to restricting public liberties in the enclave.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2009)