(UPDATE) Mass arrests in Gaza following suicide bombings
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Hamas has declared a state of emergency and on Wednesday morning began arresting supporters of Islamic State and other Salafist organizations in the Gaza Strip en masse, hours after three policemen were killed in a series of blasts in the coastal enclave, according to Palestinian reports.
An unnamed security source told the BBC that the two explosions that hit police checkpoints near Gaza City on Tuesday evening were the result of suicide bombings carried out by IS and that one of the attackers had previously been detained by Hamas.
Suicide bombers thought to be aligned with the ISIS group have attacked two police checkpoints in Gaza, killing three Palestinian officers.
The attacks follow a recent operation by Hamas, which controls Gaza, against militants linked to ISIS.
A state of emergency was declared after the attacks with forces on alert. Security forces deployed hundreds of personnel on the main roads in the Gaza Strip following the attacks.
Two police officers were killed and a third Palestinian wounded in the first bomb, which was set off from a motorcycle near a police check point. The second explosion, less than an hour later, killed another officer and wounded several people at a separate checkpoint, Hamas’s interior ministry said.
