Last update - 00:00 24/08/2007
Militants' families evacuate north Lebanon refugee camp
By Associated Press
Relatives of Fatah al-Islam fighters in Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon began leaving the area Friday, a Muslim religious leader mediating between militants and the Lebanese army said.
Sheik Mohammed al-Haj of the Palestinian Scholars' Association told Al-Jazeera television that mostly civilian women and children who were miltants' family members were boarding Lebanese army buses to be taken for interrogation.
"There is an agreement that they (families) come out today... If they're being truthful, we are ready," said a senior military official on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses near the camp said the army seemed to have halted its of the area bombardment on Friday morning which it recently augmented with 400 kilogram bombs dropped from helicopters. Sources believed this may have prompted the fighters to request thier families be evacuated.
Al-Haj added that he hoped the evacuation would be a step toward ending the Nahr el-Bared crisis.
An anonymous official said the civilians would be received by the army inside the camp, given food and water then transported out of the camp for interrogation.
Al-Haj said Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha contacted him Friday, requesting he mediate with the Lebanese army command for a truce to allow the remaining civilians to leave the refugee camp. A total of 22 women and 41 children were to be evacuated Friday, according to al-Haj's group, which has been mediating between militants and the army since fighting broke out in the camp on May 20.
Authorities cleared the area of television crews and journalists to leave the area for security reasons, including concerns that some of those leaving might be wearing explosive belts. The International Committee of the Red Cross was contacted Friday morning to prepare for the evacuation.
Some media reports said that among the evacuees were wife of Fatah al-Islam head Shaker Youssef al-Absi and the widow of his deputy, Abu Hureira, who was killed by security troops outside the camp earlier this month.
The camp's 30,000 civilian residents fled in the first weeks of the fighting and the army estimates only 70 Fatah Islam fighters remain, down from 360 when the fighting began.