Three Die in Palestinian Camp Clash

30/08/2004| IslamWeb

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)