- Title: LEBANON: CAR BOMB EXPLODES IN PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP, ONE KILLED.
- Date: 1st March 2003
- Summary: (U4) EIN EL HELWEH, SIDON, SOUTH BEIRUT, LEBANON (MARCH 1, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: DAMAGED CAR (6 SHOTS) 0.27 2. GV/CU: DAMAGE TO THE SHOP BELONGING TO VICTIM OF BOMB BLAST (3 SHOTS) 0.38 3. SCU: MAN OPENING THE DOOR OF THE MORGUE 0.41 4. GV: DEAD BODY UNDER SHEET 0.44 5. CU/MCU: FACE OF DEAD MAN KILLED IN BOMB
- Embargoed: 16th March 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: EIN EL HELWEH, SIDON, SOUTH BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Reuters ID: LVACHO8Q8JZPUTFZY2S0Z7H05RUA
- Story Text: A car bomb exploded in the Palestinian refugee camp of
Ain El Helwa in Lebanon, killing an Egyptian National as he
was closing up his shop and heading to the Mosque for prayer.
Camp security sources said the victim was identified
as Abu Mohamed Al-Masri, an Afghan war veteran who came to Ain
El-Helweh refugee camp six years ago.
The Mosque Al-Masri frequented was said to be frequented
also by members of Osbat al-Ansar, a militant group on
Washington's "terrorist" organizations suspected of links to
Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
A string of explosions have ripped through Ain El Helwa
in recent months.
(Updates with al Qaeda connection, paragraphs 1, 5-7)
By Ali Hashisho
AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon, March 1 (Reuters) - A car bomb
exploded inside Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on
Saturday, killing an Egyptian Islamist Israel has accused of
leading al Qaeda operations in Lebanon, camp security sources
said.
The sources said the man identified as Abu Mohammad
al-Masri, an Afghan war veteran who came to Ain el-Hilweh six
years ago and never left, was killed as he left his bean shop
to walk to the mosque to pray.
The mosque was frequented by members of Osbat al-Ansar, a
militant group on Washington's list of "terrorist"
organisations suspected of links to Saudi-born militant Osama
bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
"The dead man was targeted personally," said Sheikh Jamal
Khattab, an Islamist leader in the southern Ain el-Hilweh
camp, although he could not say if the man was a member of
Osbat al-Ansar.
Israel's then-ambassador to the United Nations Yehuda
Lancry accused Masri in July of leading al Qaeda operations in
Lebanon in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"In recent years al Qaeda has established a broad
infrastructure in Lebanon, centred mainly in the Ain Hilweh
refugee camp near Sidon," said the letter, posted on a United
Nations Web site.
"Al Qaeda's Lebanon operations are headed by...Masri, a
terrorist leader who was deeply involved in the plot to attack
American and Israeli targets in Jordan in 1999," it added.
Lebanese officials have repeatedly denied reports that al
Qaeda members are holed up in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee
camps like Ain el-Hilweh, which Lebanese authorities do not
enter and are controlled by Palestinian factions.
TIMED TO EXPLODE
Palestinian security sources said the attacker had driven a
Beirut-registered explosives-laden car into the camp in the
middle of the night. They said they believed the device was
timed to explode as Masri arrived to pray.
A previously unknown group calling itself Youth of the
Armed Struggle claimed responsibility for the attack in a
faxed statement sent to Reuters, saying Masri was a member of
Jamaat an-Nour, thought to be an offshoot of Osbat al-Ansar.
"We decided to cut off the head of the snake in a first
step that the Youth of the Armed Struggle will take to cleanse
the camp of all suspect elements that were planted in the
camp, and which started to sabotage camp security," the
statement said.
The fax blamed Jamaat an-Nour for a string of bomb attacks
in Ain el-Hilweh and for threats against prominent
Palestinians in the camp.
But Islamists in Ain el-Hilweh, near the port city of
Sidon, quickly blamed Israel for the attack, saying an Israeli
reconnaissance plane had hovered overhead prior to the
bombing.
A senior Lebanese army official confirmed an Israeli plane
had flown over Sidon on Friday, but said there was no reason
to believe the two events were related.
A string of bombings has ripped through Ain el-Hilweh in
recent months, where tensions have been high since Islamic
militants clashed with fighters loyal to Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in August, killing three people.
Lebanese politicians hostile to some 350,000 Palestinian
refugees registered in about a dozen camps across Lebanon
point to Ain el-Hilweh as a haven for militants and organised
crime.
(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem)
((Writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by Lisa Vaughan; tel
+9611 983 885; Reuters Messaging
cynthia.johnston.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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