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Radical leader killed

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The New York Times

Published: August 16, 2009

JERUSALEM - A shootout at a mosque in the southern Gaza city of Rafah between Hamas security men and a more extreme Islamist group called the Warriors of God ended early Saturday with 22 dead, including the group's leader and a senior Hamas security officer.

The Ministry of Interior in Gaza said the leader, Abdel Latif Moussa, died in an explosion at his house close to the mosque when fighting resumed after dawn. A ministry spokesman said his death may have resulted from explosives in his house that detonated when security men sought to reach him.
Hospital officials in Rafah said the dead included an 11-year-old girl and six Hamas police officers.

About 150 people were wounded. By noon on Saturday, Rafah was calm after hours of gunbattles.

The Warriors of God, which is based there, had taken over the mosque with about 100 men. Moussa had asserted during Friday prayer that Hamas was lax in its observance of Islamic law.

He announced that the city, and soon all of Gaza, was coming under strict religious law.

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