Report:Hamas security forces arrest Salafi Sheikh over ISIL Links

A radical Salafi Sheikh has been arrested in the Gaza strip by Hamas security forces on charges of having ties with the ISIL terrorist group, a report said.

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.

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 militants launched an attack on the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk on April 1 and are reportedly cooperating with rival terrorists from the al-Nusra Front, despite clashes with it elsewhere in Syria.

The UN says nearly 18,000 Palestinian civilians, including a large number of children, are caught in Yarmouk.

Yarmouk, once hosting tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees as well as Syrians, has turned into a ghost town as a result of violent attacks by anti-government militants over the past four years of turmoil in Syria.

ISIL was in control of the camp until 2014, when a deal with the government led to the withdrawal of the terrorists. The Syrian army has since then besieged the camp as it has turned into a major bastion for spreading anti-government militancy by al-Qaeda-linked groups.