Two Red Cross workers killed near Palestinian refugee camp

Another wounded as vehicle comes under mortar fire from Nahr el-Bared; Muslim sheik wounded after trying to negotiate a cease-fire.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
lebanon fighting 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
lebanon fighting 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Two local Red Cross workers were killed and a third wounded Monday when their vehicle came under fire from inside a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, Lebanon's state-run news agency and security officials reported. Security officials said the workers were killed when their vehicle was struck by what appears to be a mortar shell fired from inside the camp. A third Red Cross worker was seriously wounded. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to give official statements to the press, said there were army casualties as well, but did not provide a number. The National News Agency identified the dead as Boulos Maamari and Haitham Suleiman. In a separate incident, a Muslim sheik was wounded as he left the Nahr el-Bared camp Monday where he was trying to mediate an end to the fighting between the Lebanese army and the militants. Hospital officials at the Islamic Hospital in the northern city of Tripoli where he was taken said Sheik Mohammed Haj was lightly injured in his leg when the Palestinian Red Crescent vehicle he was riding in came under fire from inside the camp. The Haj's spokesman Sheik Walid Abu Heit told reporters at the hospital that the incident would not stop mediation efforts. "We do not blame anyone for the incident at this point," he said. Red Cross officials did not immediately respond to repeated phone calls made by The Associated Press.