Four Lebanese soldiers killed in explosion in refugee camp

Four Lebanese soldiers were killed Saturday, three in a bomb explosion and one by a Palestinian sniper in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to give statements to media, said the blast occurred as the army was dismantling bombs, booby traps and land mines in the Nahr el-Bared camp, the scene of a monthlong battle between the military and al-Qaida inspired fighters holed up inside.

Saturday's fatalities bring to 79 the number of soldiers killed. More than 150 have been wounded since fighting erupted May 20 between the Lebanese troops and Fatah Islam militants in this camp near the port city of Tripoli.

After Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr declared victory over the militants on Thursday, the army has been mopping up segments of the camp under its control.

However, heavy machinegun fire and bursts of artillery shells reverberated across the camp Saturday - a sign that the clashes were continuing.

The state-run National News Agency said the army was responding to gunfire attacks on its positions around the camp and was pounding suspected militant hideouts deep inside the camp with artillery barrages.

The fighting at Nahr el-Bared camp has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war, claiming the lives of at least 60 militants and more than 20 civilians. It came amid a fierce political power struggle between the Western-backed government and the militant Hezbollah-led opposition.

The Lebanese military said in a statement Friday that it had largely defeated Fatah Islam militants and overrun their positions inside the camp. It also said it had completed its control over main (Fatah Islam) positions and was tightening the noose around the group's remaining fugitive members.

But two top leaders of the Fatah Islam militant group, Shaker al-Absi and his deputy, Abu Hureira, are still at large, along with an unknown number of fighters. They are believed to be holed up among the several thousand Palestinian civilians still inside sections of Nahr el-Bared not under army control.

It is not clear how or when the standoff would end if the militants, who have vowed to fight to the death, do not surrender. Fatah Islam militants inside the camp, who spoke to journalists by mobile phone in the early days of the fighting, could no longer be reached.

Adding to the confusion on the ground, a Muslim cleric who has been acting as a mediator between the militants and the army, said earlier this week that the Fatah Islam fighters had agreed to stop firing.

Sheik Mohammed Haj of the Palestinian Scholars Association met with the militants' leaders during the week and later said that Fatah Islam has declared a cease-fire and will comply with the Lebanese army's decision to end military operations.

He said the militants would abide by conditions set by the army to end the fighting, but did not elaborate. TV stations and newspapers said the deal included handing over Fatah Islam's wounded and dismantling the group.

However, Lebanese authorities have said they will accept nothing less than a full handover of all militants who fought the army.

	Smoke rising from the bomb explosion Saturday in the Nahr el-Bared camp. (Reuters)