Lebanese troops resume shelling of militants
Lebanese troops pounded Islamic militants hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon today, on the fifth straight day of the military's sustained assault to crush the Fatah Islam fighters.
Exchange of heavy gunfire and sporadic explosions rang out from the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, with troops shelling militants' hideouts with artillery fire and sending up plumes of white and grey smoke.
Fierce fighting has engulfed the Nahr el-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 attack after the militants, who embrace an al-Qaida-style 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 on May 20 between the army and Fatah Islam. It is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
Yesterday, 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 Ein el-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, which began when the Jund al-Sham group attacked army outposts late on 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 el-Bared.
Ein el-Hilweh was calm today. 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 neighbourhoods that were the scene of yesterday's clashes.
The bombardment of Nahr el-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 el-Bared vowed Monday to take the battle to Ein el-Hilweh.
Also yesterday, a bomb exploded in an empty bus parked in the Christian neighbourhood 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 el-Bared.
Ten soldiers have been killed and 44 wounded at Nahr el-Bared since Friday. Army casualties since the fighting began stood at 45 dead at Nahr el-Bared and two at Ein el-Hilweh.
About 60 Fatah Islam militants were also reported killed.
At least 20 civilians have been reported dead at Nahr el-Bared, but recent civilian casualties were unknown.
