3 Dead, 10 Hurt in Ain el-Hilweh Clashes, Shelling Reaches Areas outside Camp

At least three people were killed and ten others were wounded Friday after armed clashes erupted at the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in the southern city of Sidon, media reports said.

"The casualty toll has risen to three dead and over 10 wounded," MTV said, adding that "gunshots have reached the Sidon-Zahrani highway and the sounds of shells are echoing across the city of Sidon."

The fighting erupted during a deployment by the Joint Palestinian Security Force on the camp's al-Fawqani street, the National News Agency said.

It said the clash erupted with a hardline Islamist group led by the militant Bilal Badr and that rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns were being used in the fighting.

Clashes intensified in the evening amid Lebanese and Palestinian political contacts aimed at reaching a ceasefire, the agency reported.

It said several shells had reached areas outside the camp such as the Siroub area, the area near the Officers Club, and al-Hamshari.

The agency said the Joint Force was insisting on deploying in three locations it had specified amid continued opposition by Badr's group to the move.

Media reports meanwhile said a lot of families were fleeing the area of the clashes.

NNA said Sidon MP Bahia Hariri was conducting intensive contacts with the national and Islamist Palestinian factions in a bid to reach a ceasefire.

Several similar clashes have erupted in Ain el-Hilweh in recent months, mainly pitting Islamist militants from Badr's group and members of the secular Fatah Movement.