Hamas: Leader of al-Qaida-inspired group killed

Hamas security forces killed the leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip today in a shootout that claimed the lives of 22 people, Hamas said.

The fighting erupted yesterday when Hamas forces surrounded a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on the Egypt border where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah, or the Soldiers of the Companions of God, were holed up.