Lebanese troops battled al Qaida-linked militants based in a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday and at least 48 people were killed in Lebanon's bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.

Twenty-three soldiers and 19 militants died in the clashes, which erupted before dawn at the Nahr al-Bared camp and spread into the nearby Sunni Muslim city of Tripoli in north Lebanon.

A cabinet minister said the fighting with Fatah al-Islam, which the government says is backed by Syria, seemed timed to try to derail UN moves to set up an international court to try those suspected of carrying out political killings in Lebanon.

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The soldiers were killed at Nahr al-Bared just north of Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, and in an attack on an army patrol in al-Qalamoun to the south, a security source said.

Security sources said 15 militants were killed in Tripoli, where the army had re-established control, and four in the camp, home to 40,000 refugees. Medical sources in the camp said six civilians, including two children, were killed and 60 wounded.

The army was blasting militant positions in the camp with tank, mortar and machinegun fire, a military source said. More than 27 soldiers were wounded overall, the source added.

Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni group, said the army had launched an
unprovoked attack.

"We warn the Lebanese army of the consequences of continuing the provocative acts against our mujahideen who will open the gates of fire... against [the army] and against the whole of Lebanon," it said in a statement.

Syria closed two of its border crossings into northern Lebanon because of the security situation there, according to an official Syrian statement. The main crossing remained open.

The soldiers were killed at Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli and in an attack on an army patrol in al-Qalamoun, just south of the city, a Lebanese security source said.

Four Fatah al-Islam fighters were killed in the camp, which is home to 40,000 Palestinian refugees. Medical sources in the camp said four civilians, including two children, had also been killed and 45 wounded.

The army had tightened its grip around Nahr al-Bared camp since authorities charged Fatah al-Islam members with two bus bombings in a Christian area near Beirut in February. Three civilians were killed by the bombs.

Cabinet minister Ahmad Fatfat, speaking in Tripoli, linked the clashes to what he said were efforts to derail UN moves to set up the international tribunal for suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

A UN probe has implicated Syria and Lebanese officials in the Hariri killing. Damascus denies any involvement in the killing. It also denies any link to Fatah al-Islam which, according to its leader, has no organisational links to Al-Qaida, but agrees with its aim of fighting "infidels."

Fatfat told Lebanon's pro-government Future TV: "There is someone trying to create security chaos to say to world public opinion: 'Look, if the tribunal is established, there will be security trouble in Lebanon.'"

The United States, France and Britain last week circulated a draft UN resolution that would unilaterally set up the court, which is at the heart of a political crisis in Lebanon.

Tripoli clashes

The rattle of assault rifles and machineguns could be heard, and thuds from explosions rocked the Nahr al-Bared area after the fighting broke out before dawn. Residents were trapped indoors and called for a cease-fire to evacuate the wounded.

The army sent in reinforcements to the outskirts of the camp where smoke could be seen rising into the air. The army is not allowed into Palestinian camps under a 1969 Arab agreement.

An army statement said the clashes began when Fatah al-Islam attacked army posts around the camp and in northern Tripoli.

Security forces had also been trying to arrest Fatah al-Islam members suspected of robbing a bank Saturday, security sources said. A group of suspected Fatah al-Islam members had been detained, the sources said.

Security forces clashed with gunmen in Tripoli itself while trying to arrest Fatah al-Islam members holed up in a building in the predominantly Sunni Muslim city, which is Lebanon's second largest.

Fatah al-Islam was formed last year by fighters who broke off from the Syria-backed Fatah Uprising group.

Its leader, Shaker al-Abssi, told Reuters in March his group's main mission was to reform the Palestinian refugee community in Lebanon according to Islamic sharia law before confronting Israel.