Bomb kills Lebanon PLO official
People rush to help the injured
A roadside bomb in Lebanon has killed a senior Palestinian official and three others, said to be bodyguards, close to Mieh Mieh refugee camp near Sidon.
Kamal Medhat, a member of the Fatah faction, was the deputy representative of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Lebanon.
The bomb blew one car off the road and badly damaged another, scattering burning debris.
There was no immediate indication of who may have been behind the attack.
 Kamal Medhat recently attended a memorial for dead Hezbollah fighters |
"It is not possible to speculate on who committed this crime," Osama Hamdan, a representative in Lebanon of the Palestinian group Hamas, told al-Manar television, which is backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
Mr Hamdan added that Mr Medhat had played a role in helping to ease tensions among Palestinian groups.
Lebanon's crowded and poorly developed camps, housing families expelled from what became Israel in 1948, are prone to violent unrest and insecurity.
Two people were killed in a gun battle in Mieh Mieh camp on Saturday.
'Terrorist crime'
Unconfirmed reports say the PLO's chief representative in Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, had also been due to visit the camp but was not hit by the blast.
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The force of the blast tore through the Mercedes in which Mr Medhat was travelling and threw the car into a nearby field, witnesses said.
Reuters news agency reported that the bomb was planted under a manhole cover.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing as an act of terrorism, Reuters added.
"President Abbas condemns the terrorist crime that targeted Maj Gen Kamal Medhat," a statement issued by his office said.
"He dedicated his life to serve his people and his cause."
Initial reports of the attack said four people were killed along with the PLO official.
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