The army has set up an inquiry into the fatal shooting yesterday of a prisoner allegedly attempting to escape from the Ansar detention camp in south Lebanon.
According to military sources, the prisoner was seen leaving the inner compound where he was confined and failed to halt after warning shots were fired. He was then gunned down by rifle fire. The sources said eight other prisoners made an unsuccessful escape attempt a week ago. They said recent unrest at the camp was a result of the slow process of negotiations for a prisoner of war exchange.
The army insisted meanwhile that there is no truth to reports by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Syria that PLO and Lebanese prisoners at Ansar were mistreated. They noted that the International Red Cross which has an office at the camp reported last week that it had received no complaints about the treatment of inmates or how the camp is run.
Meanwhile, a rocket shell was fired at an Israel army patrol in the Shouf mountain area east of Beirut today but caused no casualties, a military spokesman said.
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