Palestinian official killed in Lebanon bomb blast

Palestinian official in charge of Mieh Mieh camp, Fathi Zaydan, killed in bomb blast outside refugee camp in Sidon

Smoke rises from a car wreck after an explosion that killed Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon, near Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon, April 12.
TRT World and Agencies

Smoke rises from a car wreck after an explosion that killed Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon, near Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon, April 12.

A bomb in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon killed an official from the Palestinian Fatah movement on Tuesday, an official from the group said.

The man was identified as Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon. A photograph of the blast site near a Palestinian refugee camp showed a man's body lying next to a burning vehicle.

The official said he was killed by a bomb placed under his vehicle. The Mieh Mieh camp, 4 kilometres east of Sidon, is home to 5,250 Palestinian refugees, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees across the region.

The nearby Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hilweh has regularly been the scene of violent disputes between rival factions Jund al Sham, who have been based in Ain al Hilweh camp since 2004, and the Fatah movement. One man was killed and others injured earlier this month when one such dispute escalated into gun battles.

TRT World and Agencies

Lebanese army close off a damaged area after an explosion that killed Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon, near Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon.

Last year clashes erupted after Fatah official Talal al-Ourdoni, who headed a division of the Palestinian national security service inside the camp, was shot dead.

Ain al Hilweh is home to some 61,000 Palestinians, including 6,000 who fled the war in Syria.

TRT World and Agencies

Security and civil defence members inspect a car wreck after an explosion that killed Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon, near Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon.

Under a tacit deal, agreed after the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese army is not allowed to enter the camps. Rather, Palestinian factions are responsible for security.

In 2007, the Lebanese army fought a three-month war against an al Qaeda-inspired group inside the northern Lebanese Nahr el Bared camp. The army defeated the group but the clashes also killed more than 170 soldiers and caused massive destruction, displacing the residents of the camp.

Lebanon, neighbouring Israel and Syria, is home to almost half a million Palestinian refugees.

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