Israel kills group chief linked to al-Qaida in Gaza
GAZA / JERUSALEM - Israel killed the leader of an al-Qaida-inspired faction in the Gaza Strip on Friday, accusing him of involvement in firing rockets and a planned attack on the Jewish state from the neighboring Egyptian Sinai.
The deadly air strike was Israel's second against a Salafi Islamist militant this week. Militants identified him as Momen Abu Daf, chief of the Army of Islam, among a loose network of Palestinian groups which profess allegiance to al-Qaida and have been reinforced by volunteers who slip in from the Sinai.
Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, who have sometimes reined in more radical groups, are seeking an accommodation with secular Palestinian rivals and with an Egypt struggling for order after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February.
