A bomb killed a senior official in the Palestinian Fatah faction and four other people in southern Lebanon on Monday, security sources said. Kamal Medhat, deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Lebanon, was killed with his companions on a road near Mieh Mieh refugee camp outside the southern city of Sidon.
The bomb, hidden under a manhole cover, hurled one car off the road into a nearby orchard. Another car plunged into what appeared to be a crater left by the blast. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Medhats killing as an act of terrorism. Hamas also condemned the attack.
Medhat had been accompanying Lebanon PLO representative Abbas Zaki, who was not injured in the blast, on a visit to Mieh Mieh camp. Lebanon is home to 12 Palestinian refugee camps that house more than 200,000 registered refugees. Both had been attending a meeting to reconcile feuding families in the camp.
Palestinian sources in Lebanon said Medhat had been involved in an internal power struggle within Fatah, while senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said he had played a "very great role" in easing tensions among Palestinian groups in the country.