Army raids Islamists in Lebanese city, 11 die

TRIPOLI, Lebanon, June 24 (Reuters) Lebanese troops stormed an Islamist militant hideout in the northern city of Tripoli today, killing seven of them, security sources said.

One soldier was killed and 14 were wounded before the 10-hour siege reached a bloody climax in an apartment block. Militants had also killed three of the building's residents - a policeman, his young daughter and a relative.

The standoff, which began shortly before midnight, was linked to 36-day-old battles between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants at a Palestinian refugee camp just north of the city.

The violence in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, began when militants believed linked to Fatah al-Islam fired at soldiers trying to raid their apartment in Abu Samra district, starting a firefight with assault rifles and grenade launchers.

The army then blocked off the area and brought in reinforcements, including an armoured troop carrier. It was not clear if any of the militants in the building had survived.

The policeman was killed along with his daughter and relative when he resisted the militants, the sources said.

The troops had gone to the apartment acting on information gained from a detained Fatah al-Islam member. Hours earlier they had found a cache of weapons in another flat in the area.

A similar violent raid on a Tripoli apartment on May 20 sparked fierce fighting between the army and al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militants in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.

At least 176 people have been killed in the battle for Nahr al-Bared, Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 war.

Witnesses said Lebanese troops pounded the camp today as the fighting entered a sixth week. Plumes of smoke rose from the camp as 155 mm artillery shells landed. The rattle of machinegun fire and grenade blasts echoed at the frontline.

Fatah al-Islam fighters retreated deep inside the camp last week after the army captured all its previous positions on the outskirts.

Lebanon's defence minister on Thursday claimed victory and an end to major military operations.

But he said the army would blockade the camp until the militants surrenderd. Security forces are barred from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps by a 1969 Arab agreement.

Fatah al-Islam has said it has no organisational ties to Osama bin Laden's network but shares its militant ideology.

REUTERS RN RAI1321