Fatah Islam's No. 2 buried in Lebanon a month after his death

The No. 2 commander of the al-Qaida-inspired militants battling Lebanese troops in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon was buried on Saturday, a month after his death.

Abu Hureira, Fatah Islam's deputy commander, was killed on July 31 in clashes with Lebanese security forces in the northern port city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported Saturday, disclosing for the first time the exact date of his death.

On Aug. 6, the government originally announced the death of Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name was Shehab al-Qaddour, saying he was killed a few days earlier by police in Tripoli, near the battleground Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared on the city's outskirts.

The bullet-riddled body was taken to a government hospital in Beirut's Baabda suburb after residents of his northern hometown of Mishmish refused to bury him in the town's cemetery because he had fought against the Lebanese army.

At least three of the 153 Lebanese soldiers killed in the three months of fighting were from Mishmish, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the camp.

The body, wrapped in a white shroud, was finally taken by ambulance from the hospital Saturday, in the presence of his brother, Youssef, and a friend, to Tripoli with a security escort, the NNA reported.

Abu Hureira's corpse was then taken to a mosque for washing and prayer in the presence of family members and relatives, the NNA said, adding that all roads leading to the area were cut off to prevent any possible protest by residents against the burial.

He was finally laid to rest in a quiet ceremony attended by family members and mourners did not make any calls for revenge during the peaceful burial

Fatah Islam, however, has vowed to avenge Abu Hureira's death.

We in the Fatah Islam movement and all the true mujahideen, pledge to God to avenge our brother's blood from the infidels and the renegades, the group said in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site on August 8.

The whereabouts of Fatah Islam leader, Shaker Youssef Absi, have been unknown since fighting broke out. Absi has been sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for his involvement in the 2002 murder of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman.

Abu Hureira takes with him to the grave a lot of information and secrets about the Fatah Islam organization and the Nahr el-Bared battle, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) channel said in its prime news bulletin Saturday. He was the No. 2 man in this group and close to the group leader Shaker Absi.

Abu Hureira's burial came a day after Lebanese army helicopters stepped up raids on Fatah Islam militants after five soldiers were killed.

The fighting in the Nahr el-Bared has become Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. In addition to the army's high casualties, an unknown number of militants and more than 20 civilians have been killed.

On Friday, army helicopters fired a number of rockets at suspected underground militant's bunkers and shelters in the camp's Saassa neighborhood, the NNA reported.

The army has refused to halt its offensive until the militants completely surrender, but the gunmen have vowed to fight to the death.

Lebanese officials say that up to 70 Fatah Islam fighters remain holed up in the camp, down from 360 when fighting broke out.

Fatah Islam has been blamed for past attacks inside Lebanon, including the February bombing of two buses near Beirut that killed three people and wounded 20, authorities said. Also, more than 100 suspected Fatah Islam members are in police custody facing terrorism charges.

	A plume of smoke rises from a Palestinian refugee camp in Northern Lebanon as army troops battle Islamic militants from Fatah Islam. (Reuters)