Lebanon army pounds camp; militants kill 2 troops

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, July 12 (Reuters) Lebanese troops unleashed barrages of artillery fire at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon today after al Qaeda-inspired militants killed two soldiers there.

The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp for nearly eight weeks. At least 207 people have been killed, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Security and political sources said yesterday 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.

But a military statement denied today's fighting was a final push.

''The current ongoing military operations are still in the framework of tightening the noose on the gunmen to force them to surrender and submit to justice,'' it said.

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.

The army is not allowed to enter Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps under a 1969 Arab agreement.

Today'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.

Security sources said two Lebanese soldiers were killed by sniper fire in the early morning and three more were seriously wounded in subsequent fighting.

Their deaths brought to 89 the number of soldiers killed in fighting with Islamist militants in the camp and other areas.

Seventy-five militants and 43 civilians have also been killed in the fighting that began on 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.

Reuters NY GC1623