20 April 2011 - 19:30

An al-Qaeda-linked terrorist implicated in the death of an Italian activist killed himself and an associate as Hamas security forces stormed his Gaza hideout on Tuesday.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The surviving member of the militant trio believed to have kidnapped and killed pro-Palestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was arrested by Hamas forces who surrounded and captured the house after a fierce firefight, said Hamas security spokesman Ihab Ghussein.

As Hamas forces closed in, the group's ringleader, Abdel-Rahman Mohammad Breizat, a Jordanian, threw grenades at his two accomplices and then shot himself rather than be taken alive.

Three members of the Hamas police force were wounded in the gunfight along with a girl, caught in the crossfire as she tried to flee to her house nearby.

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