Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon, Sept 12: Attackers hurled a hand grenade and fired rifles at pro-Yasser Arafat demonstrators in this Palestinian refugee camp, injuring 15 people, a Palestinian official said today. Col. Khaled Aref, a senior official of Arafat's Fatah faction, said three of those injured during a last night's march in support of the besieged Palestinian leader were critically wounded.
About 400 people took to Ein el-Hilweh's narrow alleyways in southern Lebanon on hearing of Israel's threats to expel Arafat from his West Bank headquarters. When the crowd reached the camp's Safsaf neighborhood, a hotbed of Palestinian Muslim extremists, attackers threw a hand grenade and fired automatic rifles at them. The crowd dispersed after the attack.
The situation was tense today with armed Muslim militants on Safsaf street corners and gun-toting Arafat loyalists outside their offices throughout the camp. Ein el-Hilweh, on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon, has been the scene of frequent bombings, assassinations and shootings involving Palestinian factions vying for the camp's control.
Lebanese troops man checkpoints outside the camp, but do not enter. Bureau Report