Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement raided a bomb factory for Islamic Hamas movement in the West Bank and arrested 11 suspects, a senior officer said Saturday.
Colonel Ramadan Awad, chief of Hebron city police, told the press that the raid took place on Friday in a residential area in the city where many Hamas supporters live.
"We have seized explosives and prevented a catastrophe," he said, adding that the 11 suspects were being interrogated.
Awad explained that the police monitored "a suspected group" and discovered that this group, "which was a cell belonging to Hamas," was manufacturing and storing large amounts of explosives in an abandoned house in a residential area.
A spokesman for Hamas in the Gaza Strip Fawzi Barhoom rejected the reports, saying "these are false reports and lies" aimed at "hindering Egypt's efforts to launch a national Palestinian dialogue."
A delegation from Hamas held a series of talks with Egyptian mediators as part of Cairo efforts to broker a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
Since Hamas drove out pro-Abbas forces from the Gaza Strip last year, the two movements have been exchanging crackdowns against their opponents.
Source: Xinhua
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