Day and night, for three days in September 1982, a massacre took place in Sabra Street and Shatila refugee camp in a popular residential area of Lebanon's capital Beirut. Even today, few people are aware of the scale and extent of the killings that took place for 43 consecutive hours some 23 years ago. Palestinians were the target of this massacre, but they were not the only victims. Arabs of other nationalities, Turks, Bangladeshis and Iranians were also killed in their homes, in the streets, or marched to Sports City where they were shot in hastily-dug death pits.
A motley crew of Lebanese Christian militias attacked doctors, nurses and patients in the Gaza and Akka Hospitals. Axes and guns with silencers were used against everybody - including women, children, babies, the unborn, the elderly and the sick - so as not to draw attention to what was taking place. In the aftermath of the slaughter, rescue workers found that acid had been poured over people's faces and stomachs, eyes had been gauged out and bodies were booby-trapped. The French had to send in bomb-disposal experts to assist with the recovery. Not all the victims were found, and many remain missing, including an abducted British citizen who was simply known as "Uthman". Homes were bulldozed, and bodies were placed under roads that were then repaved, or dumped in pits that were then filled over with sand...more here
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