LEBANON: THREE SECURITY OFFICERS ARE KILLED BY GUNMEN IN THE AIN EL-HILWEH PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP AS ARMY SEALES OFF CAMP

Record ID: 230546

  • Title: LEBANON: THREE SECURITY OFFICERS ARE KILLED BY GUNMEN IN THE AIN EL-HILWEH PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP AS ARMY SEALES OFF CAMP
  • Date: 12th July 2002
  • Summary: (U5) SIDON, SOUTH LEBANON (JULY 12, 2002)(REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF LEBANESE ARMY REINFORCEMENTS DEPLOYED AROUND AIN EL-HILWEH CAMP (4 SHOTS) 0.35 2. SLVs SOLDIERS SEARCHING CARS (2 SHOTS) 0.48 3. MORE OF ARMY TROOPS DRIVEN TO THE AREA 0.01 (U5) AIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, SOUTH LEBANON (JULY 12, 2002)(REUTERS) 4. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN CAMP STREETS (3 SHOTS) 1.15 5. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN FACTIONS MEETING ATTENDED BY (BEARDED) OSBAT AL-ANSAR OFFICIALS (4 SHOTS) 1.39 6. GV CARS WAITING FOR INSPECTION BY LEBANESE ARMY AT CAMP ENTRANCE; SLV SOLDIERS CHECKING VEHICLE (2 SHOTS) 1.51 (U5) JOUN VILLAGE, SOUTH LEBANON (JULY 12, 2002)(REUTERS) 7. MV AMBULANCE OUTSIDE HOUSE OF ALI SALEH, ONE OF THE OFFICERS KILLED IN THE SHOOTOUT 1.55 8. MV WEEPING WIFE OF ALI SALEH LYING IN BED NEXT TO HIS BODY WRAPPED IN LEBANESE FLAG 2.01 9. MVS MOURNING WOMEN WITH PISTURE OF DECEASED (2 SHOTS) 2.10 10. SLV SOLDIERS CARRYING ROSE BUDS HEADING FUNERAL PROCESSION 2.15 11. MV WEEPING RELATIVES CARRYING SALEH'S COFFIN 2.25 12. MV MOURNERS HOLDING COFFIN 2.32 13. MV WOMEN IN BLACK FOLLOWING PROCESSION 2.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SIDON /AIN EL-HILWEH / JOUN, SOUTH LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA6R4LGUHKI3VT1300TEGWK70UX
  • Story Text: Lebanon's army has fanned out through the southern city
    of Sidon sealing off entrances to a nearby Palestinian refugee
    camp after gunmen killed three security officers overnight.



    The Lebanese army sealed off entrances to the Ain
    el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp on Friday (July 12, 2002) after
    gunmen killed the officers in an overnight clash.

    Witnesses said tanks and armoured vehicles beefed up army
    positions at the fringes of the camp, near the scene of a
    shootout during a raid on the home of a man suspected of links
    to a Palestinian Islamist group based in the Ain el-Hilweh
    camp.

    The army said a group of Palestinian gunmen killed the
    officers and military sources identified the target of the
    raid as a Lebanese citizen believed linked to Osbat al-Ansar
    an obscure group whose assets the United States ordered
    frozen for suspected links to the al-Qaeda network of Osama
    bin Laden.

    Security sources said the suspect was believed to have
    been involved in a series of bomb attacks on army positions
    near the camp, and an army statement on Friday said people
    detained over bombings had identified him as a planner of the
    attacks.

    Representatives of Palestinian factions in the camp, the
    largest of a dozen in Lebanon housing some 350,000 refugees,
    said they were searching for the target of Thursday's raid,
    who they believed had hidden in the camp after being wounded.

    Lebanese authorities have no access to the camp.

    A spokesman for Osbat al-Ansar denied the group had any
    ties to the suspect or was harbouring him.

    Headed by a Palestinian Islamist who is a fugitive from a
    death sentence in Lebanon, Osbat al-Ansar has denied any links
    to bin Laden and camp residents have expressed scepticism that
    it has significant assets or influence inside Lebanon or
    abroad.

    Military posts outside Ain el-Hilweh have frequently been
    the targets of bomb attacks, and explosives planted at the
    house of a Lebanese security official near the camp earlier
    this week wounded at least two people.

    Palestinian factions, including members of Osbat al-Ansar,
    said after a meeting at the camp that they will search for the
    suspect, who they believed had hidden in the camp after being
    wounded.

    The dead soldiers were buried in separate funerals in
    their villages on Friday.


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