Three Die in Palestinian Camp Clash

Three Die in Palestinian Camp Clash
Armed clashes broke out yesterday between Palestinian supporters of Yasser Arafat and Islamic activists in Lebanon's largest refugee camp, and officials said three people were killed, including a teenage girl on a balcony outside the camp who was hit by a stray bullet. At least seven people were wounded when machine-gun fire erupted in the Ein el-Hilweh camp on the outskirts of Sidon. Members of Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction, Palestinian officials said, battled those of Asbat Al Ansar group. The officials said fighting started when a pro-Arafat march reached a street controlled by Asbat Al Ansar. Members of the group opened fire in the direction of the demonstrators, killing Mohammed Ibrahim, a Fatah official, and his assistant, Mohammed Al Aatout. It was not clear if they had been singled out as targets. A Lebanese teenager who was standing on a hospital balcony just outside the camp, 14-year-old Mariam Quteish, was hit by a stray bullet and died, according to hospital officials. She had been visiting a sick uncle at the Shueib hospital near the camp, they said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Lebanese soldiers block the area at the entrance of Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon, Sunday Aug. 29, 2004. (AP)

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