May 2, 2011

Hamas slams killing of ‘holy warrior’ Osama bin Laden

Comments by Hamas Gaza Strip leader Ismail Haniyeh come after a spokesman of the West Bank-ruling Palestinian Authority said bin Laden's death could advance the cause of peace.

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The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an “Arab holy warrior.”

“We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood,” Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.

Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Hamas, Haniyeh said: “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.”

Read more at Haaretz.com.