Palestinian security officer shot dead in Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp

A member of the Palestinian security forces has died on Monday after he was shot by unknown assailants in the south Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp, Lebanese media reported.

The man, identified only by his initials as M.M., was shot while at a vegetable market in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps. He was taken to hospital but later died.

No further information on the crime was given.

He was a member of the joint forces in charge of maintaining security at the camps, which quite often witness tit-for-tat killings and other violence, especially between rival Palestinian factions.

The UN says more than 54,000 registered refugees live in Ain al-Hilweh, but one recent estimate put the population at closer to 120,000.

Ain el-Hilweh, like the other refugee camps, falls outside the jurisdiction of the Lebanese security services.