Three of the Palestinian gunmen who kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston and dozens of foreign nationals in the Gaza Strip over the past three years were killed by Hamas's security forces in a bloody battle in Gaza overnight, Hamas officials said on Tuesday.
Hamas forces assaulted the compound of the notorious Dughmush clan early Tuesday, sparking a fierce exchange that killed a dozen people in fighting throughout the night, Hamas officials said.
A branch of the Dughmush clan also claimed responsibility for capturing Cpl. Gilad Schalit in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
The gunmen were killed during a massive security operation launched by Hamas against members of the clan in Gaza City late Monday.
Altogether, 12 Palestinians were killed in the clashes, including a four-year-old girl. At least 40 others were wounded and another 15 arrested.
The Hamas offensive began shortly after gunmen belonging to the powerful clan killed Abdel Karim Khazik, a member of the Hamas police force, and wounded two other policemen.
The gunmen were identified as Saeb Akram Dughmush, Ibrahim Muhammad Dughmush and Jamil Muhammad Dughmush.
All three are said to be part of the clan's armed wing, Army of Islam, and were directly involved in the abduction of Johnston and other foreigners, as well as attacks on Christian institutions in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas official told The Jerusalem Post.
Ahmed Dughmush, one of the heads of the clan, was reportedly moderately wounded during the clashes. He is the brother of Mumtaz Dughmush, the overall commander of the Army of Islam who regards himself as the Palestinian [Jordanian-born arch-terrorist] Abu Musab Zarqawi.
Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Hamas police force, said the three men had sought sanctuary in a house belonging to the Dughmush clan in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, ignoring repeated calls to surrender.
He said that Hamas's Minister of the Interior, Said Siam, immediately contacted notables from the Dughmush clan and urged them to interfere to persuade the men to hand themselves over to the police.
"The perpetrators insisted on barricading themselves inside the house and ignored appeals to surrender peacefully," he added. "When the police entered the area, they came under heavy gunfire from different directions."
Shahwan stressed that the operation was not specifically directed against the Dughmush clan, who members have long been imposing a reign of intimidation and terror on the local population, but against criminals.
"The [Hamas] government won't permit anyone to break the law, regardless of his political affiliation or the identity of his clan," he said. "No one is above the law."
Another Hamas policeman, Sameh al-Naji, was killed during the raid on the hideout early Tuesday.
The raid follows a similar operation carried out by Hamas recently against members of the Fatah-affiliated Hilles clan in Gaza City. Some 200 members of the Hilles clan fled to Israel after hours of fierce fighting with Hamas policemen.
The Dughmush clan has long posed a major challenge not only to Hamas, but to the Fatah-dominated security forces that controlled the Gaza Strip before June 2007. The clan's loyalty is split between Hamas and Fatah. However, many members have either joined or formed one of the armed gangs that popped up in the Gaza Strip over the past few years.
Tuesday's security operation drew sharp criticism from Fatah leaders in Ramallah who rushed to condemn it as a "brutal massacre."
Fahmi Za'areer, a Fatah spokesman, accused Hamas of perpetrating "organized crime" by targeting the Dughmush clan during the month of Ramadan. He also hailed the Dughmush clan as a "family with a record of struggle against Israel."
In another development, Hamas announced that its representatives have been invited to Cairo for talks on ways of ending the ongoing dispute with Fatah. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said a Hamas delegation would head to Cairo after Ramadan to discuss the possibility of promoting Palestinian "national dialogue."
The Egyptians have been holding consultations with representatives of all the Palestinian factions over the past few weeks in a bid to convince them to accept an initiative aimed at ending the crisis on the Palestinian arena.
The decision to invite Hamas officials to Cairo comes amid reports that Egypt is trying to market the idea of deploying Arab troops in the Gaza Strip. The idea is said to have won the backing of the Arab League and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
But Hamas declared Tuesday that it would regard such a force as hostile, and would treat it accordingly. Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam, said it would have been better for the Arabs had they sent their troops to "liberate Palestine and defend the Aksa Mosque."
AP contributed to this report.
