Death toll rises in Lebanese camp battle

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, July 13 (Reuters) Lebanese troops fought pitched battles with al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp today, as the death toll from Lebanon's worst fighting since the civil war rose further.

Security sources said a soldier wounded in ferocious fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants at Nahr al-Bared camp yesterday died of his wounds, bringing the military's death toll for that day to seven.

The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared for nearly eight weeks. At least 214 people have been killed, making it the country's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The military, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, has stepped up pressure on the camp to force the militants to surrender.

But the well-trained and well-armed mainly Arab fighters, some of whom had fought in Iraq or had trained to go to fight there, have so far rejected all calls to lay down their arms.

Witnesses said the army was bombarding the largely destroyed camp with artillery and tanks. Militants were responding with sniper and rocket fire. At least three soldiers were wounded.

Black and grey smoke billowed from the camp's battered buildings, most of which have been reduced to rubble.

Yesterday'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 the militants' posts on its outskirts.

A 1969 Arab agreement banned Lebanese security forces from entering Palestinian camps. The agreement was annulled by the Lebanese parliament in the mid-1980s but the accord effectively stayed in place.

At least 94 soldiers, 75 militants and 44 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 8-month political crisis has been compounded by bombings in and around Beirut. The country has yet to recover from last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

REUTERS SW PM1351