TRIPOLI, August 8, 2008 (AFP) - A member of parliament and his bodyguard were pelted with with stones and bottles on Friday in northern Lebanon during a protest demanding the release from jail of alleged Islamists.

Sunni majority MP Mustafa Alloush had been invited by organisers of the protest in Tripoli to make a speech, but as he began to speak demonstrators hurled bottles and stones at him, an AFP correspondent said.

Alloush, a member of the Western-backed Future Movement that leads the parliamentary majority, was hit by a stone and slightly wounded, the correspondent said.

The MP took cover in a nearby building where the Lebanese Red Cross tended his injury before evacuating him by ambulance under tight security, he added.

Another man, believed to be his bodyguard, was also hurt.

Alloush confirmed the attack had taken place but denied being injured.

'A group of troublemakers attacked me as soon as I started to speak and I couldn't continue my speech,' he told AFP. 'I was hit on the shoulder but wasn't hurt.'

The protest was organised by relatives of alleged members of Fatah al-Islam, an Al-Qaeda-inspired group that fought a 15-week battle in 2007 with the army in and around the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared north of Tripoli.

About 300 people have since been detained by the Lebanese authorities for their alleged links with Fatah al-Islam. Their trials are expected to begin in the coming months.

Since Tuesday several hundred detainees have been on hunger strike, a security official said.

The army took control of the camp last September after the fierce fighting killed more than 400 people, including 168 Lebanese soldiers.