SIDON, Lebanon (AFP) — A top Islamist militant was critically wounded on Sunday in a blast near the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh in south Lebanon which injured four others, a security official told AFP.
Imad Yassin, a senior member of the Jund al-Sham Islamist group, was wounded along with two of his bodyguards when a charge placed in a rubbish bin exploded in the Taameer Ain el-Helweh area outside the camp, the official said.
A woman and an eight-year-old girl were also slightly wounded in the blast which prompted several families to flee the area.
Tension was high inside the camp with fighters from the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction deploying to prevent an escalation, an AFP correspondent reported.
Members of extremist groups believed to have links with Al-Qaeda have settled in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps in recent years, especially in Ain el-Helweh, the largest camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon.
The camps are outside the control of the Lebanese authorities, with Palestinian factions in charge of security.
Clashes in recent months have erupted between Jund al-Sham militants and Fatah fighters in Ain el-Helweh.
Sunday's blast came as heavy sectarian clashes took place in the northern city of Tripoli, leaving at least two people dead and 33 wounded.
The violence has raised fears of a deterioration in the security situation as rival Lebanese political factions struggle to form a government of national unity following a deal last month that ended an 18-month political crisis.
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