Four members of Palestinian family were shot dead in shootout

Four members of a Palestinian family were shot dead Tuesday in a dispute over land, said officials in a refugee camp in north Lebanon. The officials said a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militant group, and his followers attacked the house of Tewfic Khaled al-Saeed, firing automatic rifles and throwing a grenade, at dawn in the al-Badawi refugee camp outside the port city of Tripoli.

Al-Saeed returned fire, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press. Al-Saeed, his wife Anissa, and their daughter Rania died during the exchange. His son Mohammed died of his wounds while undergoing an operation, the officials said.

Two other daughters of al-Saeed, Manal and Darin, and a guest at their home, Ahmed Dakhloul, were seriously wounded, the officials said.

The officials said they knew the identity of the man who launched the attack and were looking for him and his accomplices.

The officials said the attacker was involved in a land dispute with al-Saeed, who did not belong to any Palestinian militant group. Al-Badawi is home to about 20,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants. It is one of 12 camps in Lebanon for Palestinians who were displaced in the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel, reports the AP. I.L.