Security has been beefed up for the Fatah leadership, including Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, after an unknown group claiming affiliation to Al-Qaeda distributed leaflets here threatening to ‘‘slaughter’’ them, a media report said.‘‘We hereby declare that we have begun operating in Palestine,’’ the leaflet distributed in the name of Al-Tawhid and jihad said heaping praises on Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi. ‘‘We have decided to revive the Sunnah (one of the sources of Islamic jurisprudence) of slaughter against these people to avoid dissension,’’ the Jerusalem Post quoted the leaflet circulated in Gaza as saying.
The leaflet specifically mentioned names of five Abbas loyalists—Muhammad Dahlan, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Samir Mashharawi, Nabil Amr and Abu Ali Shaheen, who it said would soon be ‘‘slaughtered’’ as apostates. The threats have prompted PA security forces to take strict measures to guarantee the safety of the leaders, including Abbas whose villa in Ramallah has been cordoned off. This is the first time the group, believed to be headed by Jordanian terrorist Zarqawi, has issued a leaflet in Gaza.
A Hamas spokesman denied any connection to the threats, saying they did not believe Al-Qaeda had set up cells in Gaza. “Hamas does not have any links with Al-Qaeda,’’ government spokesman Ghazi Hamad was quoted by the daily as saying.