An Egyptian man with purported links to al-Qaeda was killed Saturday in a bomb explosion at Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Palestinian and Lebanese officials said.
Farouk al-Masri, an activist and member of a small radical Palestinian group, died instantly when the bomb placed in a car detonated outside a small restaurant he owns in the Ein el-Hilweh camp, located on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon.
Two Palestinian bystanders were wounded and several houses damaged, the officials said, according to AP.
The bomb went off as al-Masri emerged from the Al-Nour mosque, where he prayed each morning, and crossed the street toward his restaurant, the officials added.
Palestinian officials said al-Masri belonged to a small Palestinian group called the "Islamic Jihadi Movement" and that he was among Islamic guerrillas who fought Russian troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Lebanese security officials confirmed the incident, saying only that al-Masri, who was in his early forties, was close to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
