Fatah security officer loyal to Dahlan captured in the Sinai

Egyptian security sources and eyewitnesses said that the Egyptian army captured a man called Sheikh Fathi al-Falastini, in the Safa neighbourhood of the Egyptian Rafah city. He is a PA preventive security officer.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat news agency said that officer grew a beard and lived amongst the people in Safa neighbourhood and became known as Sheikh Fathi, an Islamic propagator. When the army searched his house, they found documents which they described as dangerous, as well as plans for a number of elements and mercenaries in Rafah and Sheikh Zweid. They also found pictures of Safa and Ahrash army camps as well as sums of cash.

The sources said that armed men fired at the army camp, the soldiers exchanged fire with them and arrested a man called Fathi A.K., a Palestinian who lives in Rafah.

About 200 security officers loyal to Muhmmad Dahlan fled the Gaza Strip into the Sinai in 2006 when Hamas took over in the Strip. The PA in Ramallah arranged for their stay with the Egyptian authorities and still pays them their salaries through the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt.