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Palestinian civilians lie on the street after being wounded in the Beddawi demonstration. (Reuters)
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NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon — At least three Palestinian refugees were killed and 50 others wounded Friday, June 29, during a protest demanding the return of fellow Palestinians to their bombed-out camp in northern Lebanon.
Witnesses said that Lebanese soldiers opened fire at hundreds of Palestinian refugees, including women and children, demanding their return to the Nahr al-Bared camp, Reuters reported.
The state news agency ANI said about 100 protesters rushed an army checkpoint in the Beddawi area, outside a Palestinian camp close to Nahr al-Bared, forcing troops to open fire after they refused to pull back.
AFP correspondents said that several protestors were hit by the gunfire.
An army spokesman said that soldiers only fired warning shots to keep the demonstrators away from the northern Lebanon war zone.
Witnesses said that Lebanese civilians also intervened and scuffled with the Palestinian demonstrators, causing some of the injuries, according to AFP.
The demonstrations started when refugees started to march from the nearby Beddawi camp, where they had sought refuge after the fighting between the army and the Fatah al-Islam militant group started last month.
The protestors were impatient at the time they had had to spend at the overcrowded Beddawi in difficult circumstances.
"I hope there will be something left for us to go back to," Samira Labani, a 50-year-old woman, told AFP.
"The militants of "Fatah al-Islam are criminals and need to be wiped out," said Mustapha Ibrahim, 55, another resident of Nahr al-Bared.
"They are causing division between us and the Lebanese."
Palestinians in other refugee camps held sit-in protests on Friday against the fighting at Nahr al-Bared.
More than 30,000 Palestinian refugees have fled the Nahr al-Bared camp since the fighting erupted on May 20, according to UN estimates
Human Rights Watch on June 13 accused the Lebanese army of detaining and abusing Palestinians fleeing the besieged camp.
Sporadic Fighting
Meanwhile, sporadic fighting continued in Nahr al-Bared camp on Friday between the Lebanese army and the Al-Qaeda-inspired group Fatah al-Islam.
A military source said that two Lebanese soldiers were killed in by Fatah al-Islam militants on Friday, taking the death toll to 203 since the fighting started last month.
An army spokesman said exchanges of light arms fire were punctuated by the crash of shells in the camp's southern sector to where the militants have retreated.
The gunfight followed a relatively calm night after an army raid against a hideout in a forested and hilly area of Qalamoun.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr has said that his troops now control 80 percent of Nahr al-Bared and that only about 60 diehard militants remain.
A Lebanese defense source has told AFP that the militant group has lost 200 men with about 100 suspected fighters arrested.
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