BEIRUT: Clashes started Sunday in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp Ein El-Hilweh near the port city of Sidon, killing at least 5 people and injuring 7, according to Palestinian officials.
The fighting started after an unknown gunman tried to assassinate militant Mahmoud Khalil, but killing one of his companions instead.
Later, militants killed a Palestinian military general from the Fatah group and 3 escorts, according to media reports.
The camp is notorious for its lawlessness and violence is common there. The United Nations (UN) estimated that nearly 55,000 people live in the facility, which was set up in 1948 to house displaced Palestinians during the establishment of Israel.
On Sunday, factions clashed with assault rifles and rocket launchers and fired hand grenades in the camp as ambulances zoomed through its narrow streets to take the injured to the hospital.
The clashes stopped for several hours in the morning, with only sporadic sniper fire, but erupted again after the assasination of the Palestinian general and his escorts.
Some locals in Sidon neighborhoods fled their homes as stray bullets hit buildings and shattered and windows. The public Sidon General Hospital evacuated patients and its staff.
Mortar shell hits Lebanese military barrack
The Lebanese military said in a statement that a mortar shell targeted a military barrack outside the camp and injured one soldier, whose condition is stable.
UNRWA said its two schools that serve some two thousand students were damaged in the fighting. The organization said it suspended all its operations in Ein El-Hilweh.
