Ten members of a large Palestinian clan, including a one-year-old infant, and a Hamas police officer were killed late Sept 15 and early Sept 16 when Hamas forces clashed with gunmen from the family in its compound here, witnesses said. The assault on the powerful Dagmush clan, notorious for both

militant and criminal activity, marked an apex in the campaign by Hamas, the Islamic group that rules Gaza, to impose internal order, and it was welcomed by many ordinary people here. Earlier Sept 15, a member of the clan shot and killed another Hamas policeman while resisting arrest in the old market area of Gaza, providing a pretext for the subsequent raid by Hamas on the Dagmush compound in the Sabra neighborhood of the city. About 45 Dagmush members were wounded, including several women who were shot in the knees by Hamas, relatives said. Although hundreds of potential fighters from the clan remain at large, Hamas is believed to have dealt the family a severe blow. The strongman Mumtaz Dagmush, who leads the Army of Islam, a Qaeda-inspired militia in Gaza, was said to be badly wounded and receiving treatment within the family compound. Witnesses added that Hamas had confiscated three truckloads of weapons from the compound, and that its forces were in control of the neighborhood and were searching for more. The Army of Islam was the group that kidnapped the BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was released in July 2007 after 16 weeks in captivity. Together with Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees, a militia sponsored by another branch of the Dagmush family, the Army of Islam also took responsibility for capturing an Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Hamas is still holding Shalit and wants to exchange him for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, including many convicted of deadly terrorist attacks. The Army of Islam has been blamed for a series of attacks in Gaza on Internet cafes, music stores and other Western-style places of entertainment. More generally, the Dagmush clan is infamous for dealing in drug and weapons. It was also considered the last large clan challenging Hamas authority in Gaza after Hamas cracked down in early August on the Hillis clan that is loyal to the rival Fatah faction. After the crushing of the Hillis clan, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas figure in Gaza, said that the Dagmush's comeuppance was "only a matter of time". The latest battle centered on two buildings in the Sabra neighborhood. Inside Mumtaz Dagmush's home Sept 16 afternoon, blood and brain matter was still splattered on the tiles. Relatives said that one of Mumtaz Dagmush's brothers, Ibrahim, 18, and two cousins had been "executed", shot in the head. Many children were trapped in the houses; relatives said the infant had also been killed by Hamas fire. A neighbor, Radwan Issa, 30, who used to work for the pro-Fatah authority in Gaza, said he was shocked by the actions of Hamas. "What they did was brutal", he said. But many Gazans expressed relief. "Nobody is above the law", said Muhammad Fares, 54, a businessman, describing the Dagmush clan as killers and drug dealers. "For this I give Hamas credit. I feel safer now". Hamas took over Gaza last year, routing the pro-Fatah forces loyal to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Separately, Abbas, whose authority is now limited to the West Bank, was scheduled to meet with PM Ehud Olmert of Israel on Sept 16 night in Jerusalem for talks on a peace agreement. Olmert is eager to reach some kind of peace agreement with the Palestinians before he ends his term. Forced out of office by a corruption investigation, Olmert may have only days, weeks or a few months at most. An Israeli official said Sept 16 that Olmert believed an agreement was "doable" and that with creativity and flexibility, mutual understandings could be reached on all the core issues of the conflict, including borders, refugees, security and the future of Jerusalem. Abbas and other Palestinian officials have been sounding more pessimistic, saying that the gaps are wide and that they do not think any agreement can be reached this year.