GAZA CITY - Hamas security forces fanned out across Gaza City Saturday, arresting dozens of people after a bomb blast killed five senior Palestinian resistance fighters and a girl of five.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hamas blamed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement, accusing it of collaborating with Israel.
"This criminal act proves that the call for dialogue from Ramallah (Abbas's headquarters) was a lie designed to throw sand in our eyes and conceal a conspiracy to kill and assassinate and terrorise our security forces," Hamas said in a statement.
In the hours after the attack, security forces arrested dozens of people in sweeps across Gaza City, mostly Fatah members, according to witnesses.
A senior Fatah official who asked not to be named said security forces arrested over 100 Fatah members and raided his party's offices across Gaza, confiscating computers and documents.
In a statement released by Abbas's office Fatah denied any involvement in the "mysterious explosion".
The five men killed were all members of Hamas's armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. Another 22 Palestinians were wounded in the blast, which security officials said was caused by a bomb placed outside a car.
The dead Hamas members were identified as Iyad al-Aya, Amir Al-Sabeh, Nidal Mubeihed, Hassan al-Helo, and Osama al-Helo, a senior Gaza City commander.
A Hamas leader, Khalil al-Haya, and the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades accused Palestinian "groups who collaborate with the (Israeli) enemy" of being responsible for the explosion.
"These groups are trying to undermine the security of the Palestinian people and are thereby helping the enemy," Aya said, calling on Hamas officials and fighters to be careful.
The Brigades also said that several suspects had been arrested in the Gaza Strip without giving further details.
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