Lebanese army pounds militants at Palestine camp

Nahr Al-Bared (Lebanon), June 1: Lebanese troops bombarded positions of al Qaeda-inspired militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon today with some of the heaviest shelling in 13 days of fighting there.

An army source said the shelling was in retaliation for an earlier attack by the militants on army positions round the Nahr al-Bared camp.

The army has been battling Fatah al-Islam militants at the camp since May 20 in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. At least 84 people - 35 soldiers, 29 militants and 20 civilians - have been killed.

Artillery and machinegun fire rocked the camp from early morning. At times shells exploded at a rate of 10 a minute and smoke billowed from buildings inside.

''It is clear that this is the start of an army assault,'' said a Palestinian source with contacts in the camp. He said early reports indicated there were civilian casualties.

There was no army confirmation that a ground offensive was imminent, though a Reuters witness said a score of tanks had assembled about 1 km from an entrance to the camp.

An army source said militants had started the fighting by attacking army positions around the camp. ''The army is now retaliating in a decisive and deterrent manner,'' he said.

The government is demanding that the militants surrender.

The authorities have charged 20 captured members of the group with terrorism. The charges carry the death penalty.

A 1969 Arab agreement prevents the army from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps, home to 400,000 refugees.

The Lebanese government has given Palestinian leaders in Lebanon a chance to find a way out of the stand-off because it fears the fighting could spark violence in other refugee camps.

But the Palestinian source said the authorities appeared to have become impatient with the lack of progress by mediators and had decided to step up military pressure on the militants.

Abbas Zaki, Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in Lebanon, urged the Fatah al-Islam militants to surrender.

More than 25,000 of Nahr al-Bared's 40,000 Palestinians have fled to the smaller Beddawi camp nearby.

Members of Lebanon's anti-Syrian cabinet have described Fatah al-Islam as a tool of Syrian intelligence, but Damascus denies any links to the group and says its leader, Shaker al-Abssi, is on Syria's wanted list.

Abssi has said he follows al Qaeda's ideology, but has no direct links to Osama bin Laden's network. Many of his estimated 300 gunmen have fought in Iraq, Palestinian sources say.

Lebanese authorities say Fatah al-Islam includes Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria and Lebanon.

Reuters
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