A bomb killed a senior official in the Palestinian Fatah faction and four other people in southern Lebanon today, security sources said.
Kamal Medhat, deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Lebanon, was killed with his companions on a road near Mieh Mieh camp outside the southern city of Sidon.
The bomb, hidden under a manhole cover in the road, flipped one car off the road and badly damaged another.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Mr Medhat's killing as an act of terrorism. A Fatah spokesman in the West Bank said it was too early to speculate on who was behind the attack and that the Palestinian leadership would await the findings of investigations by the Lebanese security forces.
Mr Medhat had been accompanying Lebanon PLO representative Abbas Zaki, who was not injured in the attack, on a visit to Mieh Mieh camp. Lebanon is home to 12 Palestinian refugee camps that house more than 200,000 registered refugees.
Palestinian sources in Lebanon said Mr Medhat had been involved in an internal power struggle within Fatah.
Tensions have been high in Mieh Mieh and the nearby Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hilweh, where Fatah and a range of Islamist factions compete for influence.
Two people, including a Fatah activist, were killed on Saturday in a gun battle in Mieh Mieh camp. The clash was attributed to a family dispute.
Reuters