Two injured as series of car bombs rocks Gaza Strip

Six vehicles explode in apparent coordinated attack targeting Hamas, Islamic Jihad officials

By ToI Staff 19 July 2015, 9:17 am

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Palestinians gather around a burnt-out car in Gaza City on July 19, 2015, after explosions destroyed five cars in Gaza belonging to members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, witnesses and a security source said, amid tensions between the Palestinian territory's rulers and Islamist extremists. (AFP/MOHAMMED ABED)

Six cars exploded in the Gaza Strip Sunday morning in what appeared to be a coordinated attack on Hamas officials.

At least two people were reportedly injured in the attack, which may have been tied to Islamic State affiliated militants in the Strip.

The car bombs went off in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City around 6 a.m. The vehicles belonged to members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but initial suspicions pointed to an Islamic State-affiliated group in the Gaza Strip.

Islamic State logos were seen scrawled on the street across from one of the cars, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported.

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On Saturday, an Islamic State group in the Sinai Peninsula carried out an attack on Egyptian military forces, killing five, in the latest assault on security forces in the restive region.

Sunday’s incident was the latest in the ongoing war of attrition between Hamas and radical Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip, who have tried to undermine the Islamist group’s power.

Several recent rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip were carried out by radical Islamist groups in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has cracked down on Salafist groups in the Strip, who have responded with rocket fire at Israel in the hope of drawingthe IDF into the fray against Hamas.