Qaeda-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with security forces that killed at least 24 people and wounded 100 in Rafah, on the Egyptian border, Hamas said. The confrontation was triggered when Abdul Latif Moussa, the leader of the radical group Jund Ansar Allah, or the Soldiers of the Companions of God, defied Gaza's Hamas rulers by declaring in a Friday prayer sermon that the territory was an Islamic “emirate.” Hamas then slammed machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades into the mosque in Rafah where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah were holed up. The militants inside returned fire with automatic weapons and grenades of their own. Moussa was killed when fighting resumed after dawn Saturday, said Ihab Ghussein, a Hamas interior ministry spokesman. He said Moussa detonated an explosives vest he was wearing. “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. The group's website vowed vengeance saying “we swear to God to avenge the martyrs' blood and we will turn their women to widows.” Hamas confirmed the death in the fighting of one of its high level commanders, Abu Jibril Shimali, whom Israel said orchestrated the capture three years ago of Sgt. Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier who is still being held by Hamas. The fighting appeared to confirm Hamas' iron rule in Gaza despite a punishing Israeli and Egyptian-led blockade that keeps all but basic humanitarian supplies from entering the impoverished seaside territory. It also underscored the group's determination not to allow opponents with differing ideologies to gain a foothold in Gaza. Jund Ansar Allah claims inspiration from Al-Qaeda but no direct links between the two have been confirmed. Jund Ansar Allah and a number of other small, shadowy radical groups seek to enforce an even stricter version of Islamic law in Gaza than that advocated by Hamas.
