RAMALLAH, December 27 (JMCC) – An explosion tore through a shop owned by a Fatah Movement official in Ain al-Hilweh, a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon Sunday. The attack comes one day after an Islamist commander was found killed in the same location.

The bomb, which detonated in a gifts shop owned by Major Rasmi Nasrallah, a member of Fatah’s Palestinian Armed Struggle, left no casualties, but caused severe material damage.

A unit from Fatah and members from the joint security force of the Palestinian Follow up Committee stepped in and began investigations.

Located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon, Ain al-Hilweh, like most other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, does not fall under the control of the Lebanese government but under that of local Palestinian armed factions.

The camp saw normal activity Sunday morning, one day after the body of Ghandi Sahmarani, a member in the disbanded Jund al-Sham Islamist group was found.

Security sources said that Sahmarani, who is a Lebanese citizen wanted by Lebanese authorities, was found hand cuffed, leg cuffed and struck by a sharp device on the head. Sahmarani who hasn’t shown up for a long time, used to live in the Taamir neighborhood, which lies to the north of the camp, and which is considered a stronghold for Salafi Islamists. The area falls under the influence of Osbat al-Ansar, an Islamist group.

The fugitive was a member of Al-Tawhid al-Islami movement in the 1980’s, during which he participated in the fierce battles that broke out between the movement and the Syrian Army in Tripoli. He left Tripoli in 1987 and moved to Sidon where he joined a number of fundamentalist movements including Osbat al-Ansar and Jund al-Sham. After the disbandment of Jund al-Sham, Sahmarani joined Fatah al-Islam.

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