Abu Mohammad al-Masri, according to Israel a senior Al-Qaida militant in Lebanon, was killed in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp Saturday as he was heading to a mosque to pray. Abu Mohammad al-Masri, an Afghan war veteran who came to Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp six years ago and has never left, was killed as he left his bean shop to walk to the mosque. Camp sources said two other residents were injured in the blast. The mosque was frequented by members of Osbat al-Ansar, a militant group on Washington’s list of “terrorist” organisations suspected of links to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network. “The dead man was targeted personally,” said Sheikh Jamal Khattab, an Islamist leader in the southern Ein el-Hilweh camp, although he could not say if the man was a member of Osbat al-Ansar. Palestinian security sources said the attacker had driven a Beirut-registered explosives-laden car into the camp in the middle of the night. They said they believed the device was timed to explode as Masri arrived to pray. A previously unknown group calling itself Youth of the Armed Struggle claimed responsibility for the attack in a faxed statement sent to Reuters, saying Masri was a member of Jamaat an-Nour, thought to be an offshoot of Osbat al-Ansar. Full Story
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