Region | Lebanon
Militants clash with Fatah guerrillas in Lebanese refugee camp
Guerrillas from the mainstream Fatah movement battled Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon late on Friday, Lebanese and Palestinian officials said.
- AP
- Published: 09:32 March 22, 2008
Sidon: Guerrillas from the mainstream Fatah movement battled Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon late on Friday, Lebanese and Palestinian officials said.
At least one man was killed and four wounded in the clash pitting gunmen of the militant Jund Al Sham group against Fatah guerrillas in the Ein El Hilweh camp on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon, the officials said.
The victim and the four wounded belonged to Fatah, a Lebanese security official said. There was no immediate word on casualties among Jund Al Sham militants.
Tension has been rising between the two sides since Thursday after Fatah arrested Hussam Maarouf, a member of Jund Al Sham, and handed him over to the Lebanese army on charges of attempting to kill a Fatah official in the camp, Palestinian officials in Ein El Hilweh said.
In response to the arrest of their comrade, Jund Al Sham gunmen attacked Fatah offices in the camp with machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades, the officials said. Fatah guerrillas hit back with their own volleys of RPGs and machine-gun fire.
The echo of gunfire reverberated in Sidon and prompted some families in the teeming camp to flee to safer areas.
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