Saturday, December 29, 2007

Official says PA dismantling Al-Aqsa and other militant groups

"The top Palestinian security official said on Saturday his government was dismantling militant groups, including those connected to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction.

Officials said Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades largely agreed to go along with the government's security plan in the West Bank without putting up a fight.

"There is no Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades any more," Interior Minister Abdel-Razak al-Yahya told Voice of Palestine radio, referring to Fatah's largest armed group......

He said Abbas's Western-backed government has started "working to dismantle" other militant groups, though he did not spell out how that would be accomplished. He stopped short of threatening to deploy his forces against those who resist the security clampdown, but he said: "We will impose law and order.".....

But the diplomats questioned the government's ability to disarm Fatah militants on a larger scale, noting al-Aqsa's decentralized command and control structure.

A unit of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the Gaza Strip issued a statement in the Gaza Strip accusing Yahya of being a "collaborator" who follows "American and Zionist masters."

"We will pursue Jihad and resistance until we liberate Palestine from the Zionists," the statement said. "

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