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An official in the Palestinian Hamas movement was reportedly wounded in a car bomb blast in southern Lebanon on Sunday, military and medical sources said.

"A bomb placed in a BMW in Sidon detonated, wounding Hamas official Mohammed Hamdan," a military source told AFP.

Images posted on social media and used by Lebanese TV show a mangled car, a large fire and black smoke rising above the city.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said the area has been cordoned off.

A medical source at the scene told AFP that Hamdan suffered serious wounds to his legs while opening the door to his car, and was transported to hospital. 

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

Mohammed Hamdan is the brother of Osama Hamdan, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon.

Hamas did not immediately issue a statement on the blast.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, many of them in 12 camps across the country.

The most densely-populated of these camps is Ain al-Hilweh, which lies near Sidon and is home to some 61,000 Palestinians, including 6,000 who have fled the war in neighbouring Syria.