Lebanese army bombards Islamic militants
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 26, 3:32 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese army kept up its bombardment Thursday of al-Qaida-inspired Palestinian militants in a northern refugee camp, pounding them with tank and artillery fire, a senior military official said.
The body of a 24-year-old Lebanese soldier, killed in fighting three days ago, was pulled from the rubble of a building in the war-ravaged Nahr el-Bared camp, the official said.
With the soldier's death, 119 troops have been killed since fighting with Fatah Islam militants erupted May 20, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The shelling, intense in the morning before subsiding in the afternoon, sent up plumes of black smoke, witnesses said.
Lebanese troops advanced against the militants holed up in Nahr el-Bared, capturing nine buildings and a number of hideouts used to fire on the army, the state-run National News Agency reported. The captured positions were reportedly located in the "old camp," densely populated neighborhoods where most of the remaining fighters are thought to be barricaded.
The news agency said a number of Fatah Islam militants were killed in house-to-house battles, but the report could not be independently confirmed.
The army also seized weapons and cleared buildings of explosives, mines and booby traps, the NNA said.
On Wednesday, in some of the heaviest bombardment of Nahr el-Bared in weeks, army cannons fired shells at a rate of eight to 10 per minute at suspected Fatah Islam positions. The shelling, which was heard in the nearby port city of Tripoli for hours, followed days of low-intensity fighting.
Last week, the army used loudspeakers to urge the militants to surrender, but they have vowed to fight to the death.
The gunmen have been firing Katyusha rockets on nearby villages recently, apparently a new tactic. A Lebanese teenager was killed and a young girl was injured last week in the rocket attacks.
Fatah Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha has also warned the group would send suicide bombers against the army if it continued its offensive.
The conflict with the militants is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. An undetermined number of militants — at least 60 — and more than 20 civilians have died in the fighting, according to Lebanese government and U.N. relief officials.
Lebanon's Western-backed government has accused Fatah Islam of trying to launch a northern rebellion.
The exact number of Fatah Islam militants arrested since the group clashed with the army has not been disclosed. But Defense Minister Elias Murr said last month that about 40 militants, including some with suspected al-Qaida links, had been arrested.
Lebanese army bombards Islamic militants
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