4 Killed, 40 Hurt in Refugee Camp Battles in Lebanon
Shia Muslim militiamen battled Palestinian guerrillas around two refugee camps in Lebanon on Tuesday, and four people were killed and 40 wounded, police said.
The new casualty figure increased the overall toll in more than one month of fighting around the two camps to 99 dead and 378 wounded. The fighting damaged and destroyed scores of houses in and around the settlements.
Police sources said the casualties Tuesday were caused by rocket and machine-gun fire exchanged between Palestinians inside the sprawling camps of Borj al Brajne in southern Beirut and Rashidiyeh near Sidon in southern Lebanon and fighters of the Shia Muslim Amal militia, who surround the two camps.
The Shia Muslims are battling to keep the Palestinians from re-establishing the stronghold in Lebanon their forces maintained until the Israeli invasion of 1982.
Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam held a series of talks in Damascus on Monday and Tuesday, involving Amal militia leader Nabih Berri, Palestinian leaders and Druze militia chieftain Walid Jumblatt.
Militia sources said the talks were held to seek ways to end the bloodletting.
Berri, in a statement after one of the meetings, accused pro-Syrian Palestinian gunners in the Shouf mountains outside Beirut of bombarding Amal positions around Borj al Brajne late Monday.
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