Perfect Result: Hamas destroys Al-Qaida faction

An al-Qaida inspired group which briefly proclaimed "the birth of an Islamic emirate" in the Gaza Strip included a Syrian national who was believed to be the head of its military wing, Hamas confirmed today after the group was overrun and its leader killed by police.

There have been repeated allegations from Israel and the Fatah-led Palestinian leadership in the West Bank that al-Qaida affiliates, including foreign militants, are operating in Gaza with the knowledge of Hamas, the Islamist group which controls the coastal strip.

The confirmation by a Hamas interior ministry spokesman that a Syrian national of Palestinian descent, named as Khaled Banat but also known as Abu-Abdullah al-Suri, was among those killed in fighting in the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt between police and Jund Ansar Allah ("Warriors of the Companions of God") will renew that controversy.

Jund Ansar Allah's leader, Sheikh Abdel-Latif Moussa, also died in the fighting, which began on Friday. He was apparently killed when gun battles began again after dawn today.

The group promoted an ideology following Osama bin Laden, posting his statements as well as terrorist training videos on its website, and had called for Gaza to be ruled by strict sharia law. It attempted to launch an attack on the Nahal Oz border crossing into Israel earlier this year, involving about 10 militants in trucks and on horseback, some wearing suicide vests.

• "Analysis: Hamas wipes out opposition", Haazretz.com, 8/16/09.
  
• “Hamas destroys al-Qaida group in violent Gaza battle”, Guardian, 8/15/09.
• "Radical Muslim cleric among 21 killed in Gaza clashes", CNN, 8/15/09.