By Xinhua
Beirut : A radical Palestinian guerrilla group has allegedly played a role in the assassination of Lebanese former Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, local Naharnet news website reported on Friday.
The report, citing reliable sources informed on the investigation in Gemayel's killing, said the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) was suspected of involvement in Gemayel's death.
According to the report, a car used in the assassination, a Honda VRC, was stolen from the mountain resort of Brummana in October 2006 and taken to an area in the northern sector of the eastern Bekaa valley where car bandits operate.
Shortly after that, a member of the PFLP-GC approached the gang and bartered the car for a quantity of weapons, the sources said.
The car was used in the Nov. 21 assassination of Gemayel in Suburban Jdaideh, almost a month after it was stolen from Brummana, the sources added.
The vehicle was later driven to Syria, which expelled it back to Lebanon in December 2006 in line with a warrant issued by the Interpol, said the sources.
The report even quoted one of the sources as saying that lab tests showed that two of the gunmen who used the car in the assassination were killed later in clashes between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam militants in northern Lebanon since May 20.
Bodies of the gunmen and samples taken from the car were under lab tests to determine identities of all the culprits who gunned down Gemayel, the source said.
He added that all details related to the investigation in Gemayel's killing and the Fatah al-Islam link have been relayed to the UN committee investigating the 2005 killing of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes.
Gemayel was killed by a gunshot on the head when his convoy was attacked on Nov. 21 of 2006 in Jdaideh, about 15 km northeast from Beirut.
The 34-year-old Gemayel was a Christian leader in Lebanon and son of former president Amin Gemayel. He was a supporter of the anti-Syrian parliament majority.
Lebanon has been rocked by a series of blasts, which started with the October 1, 2004 assassination attempt against Telecomm Minister Marwan Hamade. The most recent assassination was the killing of lawmaker Walid Eido on June 13, 2007.
The PFLP-GC was founded in 1968 as a splinter group from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The group is somewhat influential in Lebanon. In recent years, it has been involved in a number of clashes with Lebanese security forces. The group has come under criticism within Lebanon.