Islamist leader among 22 killed in Gaza fighting

Palestinian faction Hamas confirmed Saturday the killing of radical Islamist cleric Abdul Latif Musa in heavy fighting against his Jund Ansar Allah sect that killed 22 and wounded at least 120 people in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian medics in Gaza said the leader of the radical Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God), died along with his aide Abu Abdullah Assury when police blew up a house in Rafah.

Twenty people were killed and at least 120 wounded in firefights between Hamas police and members of the sect the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Palestinian emergency services said on Saturday.

Islamic emirate

The clashes came after radicals holed up in a mosque declared an Islamist "emirate" in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

"The clashes overnight on Friday and Saturday between Hamas and an extremist group in the southern Gaza Strip left 20 people dead and at least 120 wounded," a spokesman for the Palestinian emergency services told AFP.

The shooting erupted on Friday afternoon following weekly prayers in Rafah, which straddles the Egyptian border.

It was one of the most violent incidents in Gaza since Israel's 22-day onslaught on the impoverished enclave in December and January.

Witnesses said that following prayers, a group of Palestinians announced the formation of the Islamist "emirate," defying the authority of Hamas, which has ruled Gaza's 1.5 million people for the past two years.

"We are today proclaiming the creation of an Islamist Emirate in the Gaza Strip," said the leader of the sect Musa at the Bin Taymiyya mosque, witnesses said.

Rafah is the Gaza stronghold of the so-called Salafist movement, of which Jund Ansar Allah is said to be a part and which is ideologically close to al-Qaeda.

We are today proclaiming the creation of an Islamist Emirate in the Gaza Strip

Abdul Latif Musa