The Lebanese army shot dead two Palestinians in a refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli on Monday after confrontations broke out during the funeral of man killed in the camp on Friday, residents said.

The army said in a statement the soldiers used tear gas and rubber bullets before opening fire on a crowd that attacked an army post inside the Nahr al-Bared camp. It said three soldiers had been wounded by stones and petrol bombs thrown at them.

Medical sources said 20 other people had been injured in the clashes.

The violence erupted at the funeral of a man killed on Friday when troops tried to stop a fight between two Palestinians at the camp, scene of battles between the army and Islamist fighters five years ago in which more than 400 people were killed and 6,000 homes were flattened.

Hundreds of people rallied on Monday in the nearby Beddawi refugee camp on the outskirts of Tripoli to protest against the killings, while residents of the Ain el-Hilweh camp outside the southern port of Sidon also held violent demonstrations.

Youths hurled stones and at least one petrol bomb at an army base on the edge of Ain el-Hilweh, a witness said. (Reporting by Nazih Siddiq; Editing by Kevin Liffey)