The families of Islamist militants battling Lebanese forces for the past three months started leaving a battered Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Friday, a military source said. "The evacuation has begun," the source told Reuters. "We announced a ceasefire to ensure the evacuation within a specific time frame."
Witnesses said the Lebanese army told journalists to stay away from the area where the civilians -- 22 women and 41 children -- were to leave the camp.
Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was coordinating the evacuation and female officers have been dispatched to search the women leaving the camp. "Members of the Palestine Red Cross Society and the Lebanese Red Cross are ready at the site with emergency medical equipment," said Samar El-Kadi, a spokeswoman for the ICRC.
According to AFP, the civilians are said to include the wife of Fatah al-Islam chief Shaker al-Abssi and the widow and child of his number two, Abu Hureira, who died in recent weeks.
