Witnesses in northern Lebanon say Lebanese soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians who were part of a crowd of protesters demanding they be allowed to return to their homes in a besieged refugee camp.
Witnesses and medics say at least 40 people were wounded Friday when the soldiers fired into the crowd as it attempted to enter the Nahr al-Bared camp. The army has been fighting an Islamist militant group at the camp for more than a month.
The military says it fired warning shots as the protesters approached the edge of the camp. But the crowd pressed on.
Rallies were held in other Palestinian camps around Lebanon Friday to protest the battle between the army and militants at Nahr al-Bared.
The fighting has destroyed most of what is Lebanon's second-largest camp for Palestinians and emptied it of nearly all of its approximately 30,000 residents.
Last week, Lebanese officials declared an end to major combat at the camp. At least 80 Lebanese troops, 50 militants and more than 20 civilians have been killed in fighting at Nahr al-Bared.
But fighters from the Fatah al-Islam militant group continued to hold out inside the camp and sporadic clashes between Lebanese security forces and the militants continue around Tripoli.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
