BEIRUT, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Shaker al-Absi, the leader of Fatah al-Islam, the militant group which had been fighting Lebanese army for the past three days in northern Lebanon, was seriously wounded, local ANB news TV reported quoting eyewitnesses who fled the camp as saying on Wednesday.

    Local Ya Libnan news website also reported the development on Wednesday afternoon, saying that Absi was seen hurt in his hand and shoulder as a result of Lebanese army shelling of the group's headquarters.

    On Wednesday, the ceasefire which started late Tuesday between the army and the militant group in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Northern Lebanon remain in place as refugees continued their exodus from the besieged camp.

    Refugees started fleeing from the camp since late Tuesday, availing the ceasefire which allowed the aid convoys to enter the Nahr el-Bared camp after three days of fighting.

    Absi has been linked to the former head of al-Qaida in Iraq and is accused in the 2002 assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan. He moved into Nahr el-Bared refugee camp last fall after he reportedly was expelled from Syria, where he was in custody, Ya Libnan news website reported.

    Since then, he is believed to have recruited more than 100 fighters, including militants from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab countries. They are based in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp north of Tripoli.

    Security experts point to Fat al-Islam as one of a range of armed Islamist groups independent of al-Qaida in terms of logistics and finances, but sharing al-Qaida's aims and ideology.