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Palestinian camp official killed in car bomb attack in Lebanon's Sidon

Explosion reportedly kills Fatah security official who worked in Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in southern Lebanese city
Zaydan's identification card was reportedly found at the scene of the blast (AFP)

A senior member of the Palestinian Fatah organisation has been killed in a car bomb attack in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon on Tuesday.

Lebanese security officials were quoted as saying the dead official was Fathi Zaydan, the head of security in the nearby Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh.

Images posted on Twitter showed the aftermath of the explosion near the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, the scene of several recent clashes between rival factions.

A photograph of the blast site showed a man's body lying next to the targeted vehicle.

The Reuters news agency quoted a Fatah official as confirming Zaydan was killed, while the AFP news agency quoted an anonymous "security source" as saying Zaydan's identification card was found near the scene of the blast.

Mieh Mieh camp, four kilometres east of Sidon, is home to 5,250 Palestinian refugees, according to the UN relief agency UNRWA.

In recent years, tensions have risen between Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah and the Jund al-Sham Islamist group, especially in the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon.

The rival factions in Ain al-Hilweh have clashed several times in the past year, with each side accusing each other of assassination attempts.

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