Last update - 00:00 25/12/2007
Dozens of Fatah supporters stage mass break-out from Rafah camp
By The Associated Press
Dozens of Palestinian security men affiliated to Fatah staged a mass break-out on Tuesday from the camp where they have been held in the
Egyptian town of Rafah, security sources said.
Around 130 men from various Fatah security groups have been held in Egyptian police custody since they crossed the border from the Gaza Strip in June, fleeing in the aftermath of rival Hamas' seizure of the territory.
The men have been held in police camps in the towns of Arish and Rafah.
Around 60 of the Fatah loyalists managed to escape from the camps at dawn on Tuesday, but Egyptian police were able to recapture 40 of them, transferring them to police stations in the coastal town of Arish, according to security sources.
The sources added that police were searching for the remaining escapees.
Egypt granted around 23 of the Fatah men residency permits in November and had moved them to Cairo, according to the sources.
Earlier Tuesday, the Hamas government released the former director of Gaza's electric company, six months after arresting him in a crackdown on political rivals in the wake of the Islamic militant group's takeover of the coastal territory.
Suleiman Abu Samhadana was arrested in July, weeks after Hamas routed the rival Fatah movement and seized power. Abu Samhadana, a Fatah sympathizer, was charged with embezzlement.
The Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said Abu Samhadana was freed on Monday. It said he paid a $100,000 fine, and turned over a deed to two acres of property as bail. In addition, two relatives promised to pay $200,000 each if he flees Gaza.
A court date was not immediately set, and Abu Samhadana declined to speak to reporters after returning home.
Abu Samhadana was the first of dozens of senior government officials, judges and prosecutors rounded up by Hamas after the takeover and also was the longest held. Most of the officials were released within days, although they lost their jobs and were replaced by Hamas sympathizers.
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