Ain el-Hilweh Tense after Fatah al-Islam Official Shot and Wounded

Gunmen went on alert Monday in the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, after a member of the extremist Fatah al-Islam group was shot and wounded.

The incident also left a Palestinian passerby identified as Khaled Ahmed al-Masri dead and three other people wounded, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Fatah al-Islam official Bilal Bader, his brother Kamal, a child named Omar Akroum and an unidentified woman were wounded when an unknown assailant opened fire on them,” NNA reported earlier on Monday.

“The Palestinian Follow-Up Committee is conducting a series of contacts in a bid to resolve the situation and restore calm,” NNA said.

By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's 12 refugee camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinians themselves.

Ain el-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian camp in the country, is home to about 50,000 refugees who live in dire conditions and is known to harbor extremists and fugitives.