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Lebanon: Fatah official murdered in Palestinian refugee camp

An official of the Palestinian Fatah movement was killed yesterday Monday in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Khilwa, in southern Lebanon, an officer of the faction’s military wing announced.

Said Alaeddin held the rank of officer in Fatah, the movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and was in charge of relations with the Lebanese security forces, the head of the faction’s local military wing, Munir al-Maqda, said.

He was shot dead by an unknown person, who fired several times at him while he was praying at his friend’s house in the camp, according to the same source.

The unknown man then fled and his motives remain unclear.

Said Alaeddin was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

After the murder, several shots were heard in the camp, an AFP reporter found.

In Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees live, most of them in very poor conditions, in 12 camps, including the one in Ain al-Khilwa, which is the largest and is located near Saida (south).

Clashes between rival factions are common in Ain al-Khilwa, home to 54,000 Palestinian refugees, joined by thousands more who fled their homes because of the war in Syria since 2011.

For decades, the Lebanese army has not entered the camps and left the Palestinian factions to guarantee their security.

Consequently, there are zones of lawlessness in the refugee camps and Ain al Hilwa is known to often host extremists or people who have fled to avoid capture.

Over 450,000 Palestinians are listed on the lists of refugees in Lebanon compiled by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

SOURCE: AMPE

Source: Capital

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