Last update - 00:00 05/06/2007
Lebanese army resumes shelling of Islamic militants
By Associated Press
Lebanese troops pounded Islamic militants hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Tuesday, on the fifth straight day of the military's sustained assault to crush the Fatah al-Islam militant fighters.
Exchanges of heavy gunfire and sporadic explosions rang out from the Nahr
al-Bared refugee camp in this northern city, with troops shelling militants' hideouts with artillery fire.
Fierce fighting has engulfed the Nahr al-Bared camp and its outskirts since Friday, when the army launched an offensive to drive the militants from their positions inside the camp.
The army stepped up its offensive after the militants, who embrace an
al-Qaida-inspired militancy and doctrine, rejected government demands to
surrender and vowed to fight to the death.
More than 100 people have been reported dead since the fighting first broke out May 20 between the army and Fatah al-Islam. It is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
On Monday, Islamic militants clashed with Lebanese troops at the country's biggest Palestinian refugee camp in the south of Lebanon, threatening to open a new flashpoint that could complicate the military effort to defeat the Fatah Islam fighters.
Two government soldiers and a militant were reported killed in the fighting at the Ain el-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, which began when the Jund al-Sham group attacked army outposts late Sunday.
The assault was seen as an attempt by Jund al-Sham to ease military pressure on their allies Fatah Islam, battered by army attacks in Nahr al-Bared.
Ain el-Hilweh was calm on Tuesday. A security force made up of Palestinian Islamic factions that was set up to prevent further Jund al-Sham frictions with the army, was expected to deploy in the camp's neighborhoods that were the scene of Monday's clashes.
The bombardment of Nahr al-Bared has angered Palestinians in some of Lebanon's 11 other refugee camps and there were fears that fighting could spread as a senior Fatah Islam commander at Nahr al-Bared vowed Monday to take the battle to Ain el-Hilweh.
Also Monday, a bomb exploded in an empty bus parked in the Christian
neighborhood of Bouchrieh east of Beirut, injuring 10 passers-by, officials said. There was no claim of responsibility, but a string of bombings has hit the capital area since the fighting began at Nahr al-Bared.
Ten soldiers have been killed and 44 wounded at Nahr al-Bared since Friday.
Army casualties since the fighting began stood at 45 dead at Nahr al-Bared and two at Ain el-Hilweh. About 60 Fatah Islam militants were also reported killed.
At least 20 civilians have been reported dead at Nahr al-Bared, but recent civilian casualties were unknown.
Seven militants surrender to Fatah inside refugee camp
A senior Palestinian commander of the mainstream Fatah faction said Tuesday that seven Fatah Islam militants who have battled the Lebanese army in a northern refugee camp have now surrendered to his group.
Fatah commander Maj. Gen. Khaled Aref, based in the southern Ain el-Hilweh camp, told The Associated Press that the seven in Nahr al-Bared came over to Fatah positions, handed over their weapons and pledged to stay out of the fighting.
Most Palestinian factions - such as mainstream Fatah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - have opposed the al-Qaida inspired Fatah Islam, but have resisted authorities' calls to actively campaign against the militants.