6 killed, 40 wounded in southern Gaza clashes

GAZA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- 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.

Members of a group called Jund Ansar Allah surround their leader  Abdel-Latif Moussa (2nd L) after Friday prayers in Rafah in the  southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 14, 2009. Islamist radicals from the  Palestinian group called Jund Ansar Allah defied the Hamas rulers  of Gaza on Friday.(Xinhua Photo)

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.