After eight-hour armed fighting between Gaza ruling Hamas security forces and militants of a pro-al-Qaida group in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on Friday,

Members of a group called Jund Ansar Allah surround their leader Abdel-Latif Moussa (2nd-R) as he speaks during Friday prayers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 14, 2009. Islamist radicals from the Palestinian group called Jund Ansar Allah defied the Hamas rulers of Gaza on Friday by declaring an “Islamic emirate” in the territory and staging a defiant display of arms.

The police of the deposed Hamas government imposed a strict curfew on the town, according to local residents, who said dozens of the group’s members fled the area and hid into underground tunnels near and under the mosque.

The residents said they were locked into their homes and they still heard explosions and gunshots from time to time, believing that Hamas police and security forces are still chasing the members of the group.

They also said that dozens of Hamas policemen, security officers and militants controlled the mosque and detained dozens of the group’s members held up inside, including the group’s spiritual leader Sheikh Musa, better known as Abu Noor al-Maqdisi.

Musa, leader of the extreme Islamic group, better known as 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.

He slammed Islamic Hamas movement for not implementing the Sharia (Islamic Law) in the Gaza Strip, and announced before prayers during Friday prayers at the mosque that his group is exerting efforts to reinforce the rules of Sharia in Gaza.

Musa’s fate is still unknown after his house was blown up by Hamas security forces, according to the residents and other security sources in Rafah.

Hamas interior ministry’s spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told Xinhua he has no information if Sheikh Musa is dead or alive, adding “we can’t certify or deny his death or if he was detained.”

Al-Ghussein fully held Musa responsible for the clashes, and accused him for having direct ties with the leaders of the security apparatuses of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank.

Meanwhile, Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan announced that the police operation in Rafah is still going on and hasn’t ended yet, expecting that “it may continue until tomorrow (Saturday) morning.”

Al-Ghussein has also accused the radical Sunnite group of being activated by the Israeli security apparatuses “to strike on Hamas,” adding that Hamas had dismantled in the past such kinds of groups who were sponsored by Israel.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet