SIDON – An official in the Palestinian movement Hamas was wounded in a carbomb blast in southern Lebanon on Sunday, military and medical sources toldAFP.

A military source said a BMW in the southern port city of Sidon “detonated,wounding Hamas official Mohammed Hamdan”.

An AFP journalist in Sidon saw the burnt-out vehicle, a silver BMW, in aparking lot of an apartment building where Hamdan lived.

Firefighters arrived to put out the flames and Lebanese security forcesquickly cordoned off the area.

The Red Cross confirmed that there was only one person wounded in the blastand said he had been transported to hospital in a civilian vehicle.

According to a medical source at the scene, Hamdan suffered serious woundsto his legs while opening the door to his car and was undergoing surgery.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the silver BMW belonged toHamdan, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Hamzah.

Hamas did not immediately issue a statement on the blast.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, many of them in12 camps across the country.

The most densely-populated of these camps is Ain al-Hilweh, which lies nearSidon and is home to some 61,000 Palestinians, including 6,000 who havefled the war in neighbouring Syria. – AFP