Gaza forces encircle suspects in PM assassination bid

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry announced Thursday that its security forces had surrounded a group of men suspected of involvement in a recent assassination attempt on Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah.

In a brief statement, ministry spokesman Iyad al-Buzm said security forces had tracked down and surrounded several individuals believed to have been involved in the Jan. 13 assassination attempt.

“Our security forces and the suspects are exchanging fire. Efforts to capture them remain underway,” al-Buzm said.

On Wednesday evening, the ministry announced it had identified a “prime suspect” -- Anas Abdelmalek Abu Khoussa -- in the failed assassination bid on al-Hamdallah earlier this month.

On Jan. 13, al-Hamdallah’s convoy struck a roadside bomb in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun district during a visit by the prime minister to the Hamas-run coastal enclave.

Earlier this week, at a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Hamas for the attempt on al-Hamdallah’s life.

Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, denied -- and denounced -- the allegation.