SIDON: Tensions ran high at the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh Wednesday after an unknown assailant shot and wounded the personal bodyguard of a senior Fatah officer.

A security source said the attacker opened fire with an automatic weapon at around midday on Uday Hammad, the Syrian-Palestinian personal bodyguard for the military commander of the mainstream Fatah Movement, Brig. Gen. Sobhi Abu Arab.

The source, speaking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, said the shooting took place in the camp’s Safsaf neighborhood, a stronghold for fundamentalists.

Hammad was rushed to a hospital in Sidon with five bullet wounds.

The source said members of the Armed Struggle, a military force created to protect Palestinians inside Lebanon refugee camps, deployed in the shantytown to prevent the situation from deteriorating.