2 Palestinians killed, 10 injured, in Lebanon camp

At least two Palestinians were killed in Lebanon on Monday as clashes broke out between the army and residents of a refugee camp, Lebanon's Daily Star reported. A funeral procession was taking place in Nahr al-Bared camp when some residents began to throw Molotov cocktails and stones at an army post, injuring three soldiers, the Lebanese daily said. Soldiers responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, before firing live ammunition. Amin Ghoneim and Foudad Muhieddine Loubaneh were killed and 10 other Palestinians wounded. The funeral was being held for a camp resident killed on Friday in clashes which erupted after the Lebanese military tried to stop a fight between two Palestinians at the camp, residents said. Some people responded by throwing rocks but the fighting escalated into a gunfight. Residents blamed the violence on the soldiers, camp leaders said, but security sources insisted the man killed was not hit by their bullets. Tensions have not subsided around the coastal shantytown since 2007, when the army moved in to fight the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam group. More than 400 people were killed, 170 of them soldiers, and 6,000 homes were flattened. The Lebanese army is not allowed to enter Palestinian refugee camps as part of a long-standing agreement, leaving them under the control of militant groups and criminal gangs. Palestinian refugees in the country have long suffered discrimination and are deprived of basic rights.