UN: 5,000 families have left Nahr el Bared

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A majority of families from a besieged Palestinian refugee camp caught in the crossfire between Islamic militants and the Lebanese army have fled the crowded camp but thousands of people remain trapped inside, a UN official said Sunday. The Nahr al-Bared camp, located near the outskirts of this northern Lebanon port city, was calm Sunday after sporadic gunfire overnight between the army and Fatah Islam militants inside punctured a four-day-old truce. Hoda al-Turk, a spokeswoman for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, known as UNRWA, said more than 5,000 refugee families - or about 25,000 refugees - have left the camp, which is home to about 31,000 people, since the fighting began one week ago. A majority of the families have fled to the nearby Beddawi refugee camp, while others are staying in Tripoli and other villages, she said.