LEBANON: Four soldiers killed and nine wounded in Lebanon camp battle

Battles have raged at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Four soldiers have been killed and nine wounded. Al Qaeda-inspired militants killed four Lebanese soldiers on Thursday (July 12) in fierce battles at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, security sources said. They said another nine soldiers were wounded in fighting at the Nahr al-Bared camp that began in the early morning after Fatah al-Islam snipers shot dead two soldiers, prompting Lebanese troops to unleash barrages of artillery fire. The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp for nearly eight weeks. At least 209 people have been killed, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. Security and political sources said on Wednesday (July 11) the army, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, had decided to mount an all-out assault on the camp to root out the militants, who have defied demands that they surrender. Witnesses said the army was bombarding the camp from all sides, often at a rate of 7 to 10 artillery shells per minute. Black smoke billowed from the camp's bombed-out, smouldering buildings, most of which have been reduced to rubble. Thursday's fighting was the most ferocious since the Lebanese defence minister declared on June 21 that all major combat operations had ceased at Nahr al-Bared after the army seized all militants' posts in its outskirts. At least 91 soldiers, 75 militants and 43 civilians have been killed in fighting with Islamist militants in the camp and other areas since May 20. The violence has further undermined stability in Lebanon, where a paralysing eight-month-old political crisis has been compounded by bombings in and around Beirut. The country has yet to recover from a war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas which erupted exactly a year ago. The government says Fatah al-Islam is a tool of Syria, a charge Damascus and the militants deny. The group says it has no organisational ties with al Qaeda, but supports its ideology. Some of its members - mainly Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians and Saudis - have fought in Iraq. Security sources say at least 10 Saudis are among the dead militants.

ITN Source | July 13, 2007

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