Beirut – A mortar shell fired from inside a besieged Palestinian refugee camp struck a Red Cross vehicle Monday, killing two of the agency’s workers and critically injuring a third, Lebanon’s state-run news agency and security officials said.
The National News Agency said the two local aid workers were killed near the northern edge of Nahr el-Bared camp by shelling from Fatah Islam militants holed up inside. A security official said later in the day that troops had destroyed the residence and headquarters of the militant group’s leader.
Other security officials said the workers were killed when their vehicle was struck by what appeared to be a mortar shell fired from inside the camp.
The security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to give official statements to the news media, said there were army casualties as well.
A Muslim sheik trying to mediate an end to the fighting between the Lebanese army and the militants was wounded as he left the camp in a Palestinian Red Crescent vehicle.
