SIDON: A car bomb exploded on Tuesday in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon, killing at least one person identified as a Palestinian official, a security source said.
The source said the blast killed Fathi Zeidan, who headed the Fatah movement in the Miye Miye Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon.
“His identification card was found near the car which exploded, which was also his,” the source said.
A statement from Lebanon’s armed forces said Zeidan had been driving the car when one kilogramme of explosives hidden inside his vehicle detonated.
The army’s forensics unit arrived at the scene of the blast and cleared away scorched body parts lying near a car in flames, according to a correspondent at the scene.
More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and many live in squalid conditions in 12 official camps.
The camps are administered by Palestinian officials and security forces, rather than the Lebanese authorities.
In recent years, tensions have risen between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’ Fatah movement and the Jund al-Sham Islamist group, especially in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, which is also near Sidon.
