Beirut: Lebanese security officials say gunmen have ambushed and killed a Palestinian official in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
They say Talal Al Urduni, a senior security official with the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement, died on Saturday in a hail of gunfire along with his bodyguard after they were intercepted by the gunmen near the Nidaa hospital in a neighbourhood of the camp.
Lebanese security officials say Islamist extremists in the camp were likely behind the assassination on Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to give official statements.
The assassination triggered heavy gunfire inside the camp, which could be heard in the southern port of Sidon.
Assassinations are common in Ein Al Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp and a haven for militants and fugitives.
