Six Bodies Found in Nahr Al-Bared Refugee Camp

Six Bodies Found in Nahr Al-Bared Refugee Camp

Six bodies were found in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Monday that was the scene of deadly clashes between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam group two years ago.

"Four bodies were found in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp as we were clearing rubble and conducting demining operations," an army spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We are still looking into whether they died during the 2007 battles there or were buried at another time," he added.

The state-run National News Agency reported the discovery of two more bodies on Monday evening in the ongoing excavations in Hajula area. Two machineguns were found near the bodies.

But a Palestinian official told AFP the remains belonged to militants of Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy Islamist group which fought the Lebanese army for 15 weeks from the camp in 2007.

"One of the bodies found had one leg in a cast and could have been wounded in the fighting before being killed," the official said, requesting anonymity.

The Nahr al-Bared clashes killed 400 people, including 168 soldiers, largely destroyed the camp and displaced about 30,000 people.

While plans to rebuild the camp were launched this year, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said its reconstruction project will allow only a quarter of the former residents to return because of a cash shortfall.