Hamas routs al Qaeda group in violent battle

An al Qaeda-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 yesterday after the group was overrun and its leader killed by police. 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 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 Saturday. He was apparently killed when gun battles began again yesterday.