Hamas security forces arrest Salafist sheikh for ISIL ties: Report

Security forces with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas have reportedly arrested a radical Salafist sheikh on charges of membership in the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group.

A security source reported the arrest on Monday, saying, “Adnan Khader Mayat from the Bureij refugee camp (in central Gaza) was arrested as part of an investigation,” AFP reported.

Hamas forces have in the past cracked down hard on Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip, the report added.

In a statement, sources close to the Salafists who are currently being held behind bars accused the Palestinian movement of “continuing its raids among our brothers and sons.”

Born in the 1980s, the Salafists are essentially an extension of Wahhabism, itself an artificial religious creation. Salafists claim religious supremacy over those they have labeled as “infidels.” They have often been slammed by the Sunni Islam, branded a sect rather than a religious school of thought or even a movement.

The ISIL terrorists control parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

ISIL launched an attack on the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in southwestern Syria, near Damascus, on April 1. The United Nations has said nearly 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are caught in Yarmouk.

Palestinian fighters affiliated with Hamas have reportedly engaged in the battle to force the ISIL terrorists from the besieged camp.