[An Nahar] At least three people were killed and ten others were maimed Friday after armed festivities erupted at the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole in the southern city of Sidon, media reports said."The casualty toll has risen to three dead and over 10 maimed," MTV said, adding that "gunshots have reached the Sidon-Zahrani highway and the sounds of shells are echoing across the city of Sidon."
The fighting erupted during a deployment by the Joint Paleostinian Security Force on the camp's al-Fawqani street, the National News Agency said.
It said the clash erupted with a hardline Islamist group led by the murderous Moslem Bilal Badr and that rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns were being used in the fighting.
Clashes intensified in the evening amid Lebanese and Paleostinian political contacts aimed at reaching a ceasefire, the agency reported.
It said several shells had reached areas outside the camp such as the Siroub area, the area near the Officers Club, and al-Hamshari.
The agency said the Joint Force was insisting on deploying in three locations it had specified amid continued opposition by Badr's group to the move.
Media reports meanwhile said a lot of families were fleeing the area of the festivities.
NNA said Sidon MP Bahia Hariri was conducting intensive contacts with the national and Islamist Paleostinian factions in a bid to reach a ceasefire.
Several similar festivities have erupted in Ein el-Hellhole in recent months, mainly pitting Islamist murderous Moslems from Badr's group and members of the secular Fatah Movement.