Death toll in clashes between Palestinian factions in Lebanon rises to 8

Clashes in south Lebanon’s Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp kill at least two people today, medics tell AFP, bringing the death toll to eight since fighting erupted over the weekend.

Renewed gunfire and shelling today shook the camp, says an AFP correspondent in the coastal city of Sidon, sending frightened residents fleeing after three days of violence.

The clashes over the weekend had killed five members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular Fatah movement and one Islamist militant, officials say.

Palestinian factions said they had agreed on a truce on Sunday but it did not hold.

Dozens of residents, mostly women and children, have fled the camp carrying light luggage, while others took refuge in a nearby mosque, the AFP correspondent says.