Egypt Releases Hamas Commander

CAIRO [MENL] -- Egypt has released a Hamas commander in a gesture meant to
reconcile with the Islamic regime in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Egyptian security sources said the regime of President Hosni Mubarak
freed Ramzi Hamid, a commander of Hamas's military wing, Izzedin Kassam.
Hamid, 35, was released on April 30 after four years in detention in Egypt.
"We decided that he was no longer necessary," a security source said.
Hamid was captured by Egyptian security forces in late 2003 when he
infiltrated through a tunnel from the Gaza Strip to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
The sources said Hamid headed a Hamas effort to smuggle injured Islamic
insurgents from the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Egypt.