Two dead in fresh Lebanon fighting

POSTED: 8:54 a.m. EDT, June 19, 2007

Story Highlights• Lebanese army continues offensive against militants in Nahr el-Bared camp
• One soldier killed in gun battles with Fatah Islam fighters; another by sniper fire
• Army has made steady gains against Islamists since clashes started on May 20

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Lebanon's army battled al Qaeda-inspired fighters in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Tuesday as the troops inched toward the militants' strongholds. Officials said two soldiers were killed in the fighting.

Reporters outside the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli said a barrage of six shells at a time were heard as the army pounded the camp. Black and white plumes of smoke were seen rising from inside the camp.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make statements to media, said a soldier was killed in battles earlier in the morning with gunmen of the Fatah Islam group barricaded inside Nahr el-Bared.

A security official, also requesting anonymity for the same reason, said another soldier was killed shortly before midday by sniper fire.

Tuesday's death brought the army's fatalities to 74 since fighting first erupted at Nahr el-Bared on May 20, when police raiding suspects in a bank robbery clashed with Fatah Islam in a Tripoli neighborhood.

Fatah Islam -- a group of Islamic militants from various Arab nationalities that built its power structure in the camp in recent months -- subsequently burst out of Nahr el-Bared, attacked Lebanese army positions and ambushed soldiers, killing 27 in attacks that drew condemnation from Lebanese and Palestinians alike.

At least 60 militants were killed in the early days of the fighting, with officials saying many more died later on. The militants have given a much lower death toll, but contact with them recently has not been possible. At least 20 civilians were reported killed.

The army has made steady gains on the ground in recent days. On occasion, it leveled top floors of buildings to root out militant snipers, and engaged in door-to-door combat to try break the stubborn resistance of the militants who operate from behind fortified positions and target the military with rockets and booby traps.

Palestinian Islamic clerics have attempted to mediate an end to the fighting but their efforts came up against the militants' pledge to fight to the death rather than comply by the army's request that they surrender.

The battle to drive the Islamic militants out has led to significant damage to parts of the camp, once home to some 30,000 Palestinian refugees. Only about 5,000 remain inside, after most residents fled to the nearby Beddawi refugee camp.

From the outside, the destruction to camp buildings can be clearly seen on the skyline. With the military advancing in recent days, the militants have been retreating deeper inside Nahr el-Bared's narrow streets and residential neighborhoods, hounded by army artillery.

There has been little information from inside the camp since the early days of the fighting. Nahr el-Bared has been off limits to journalists.

An amateur video obtained by Associated Press Television News on Tuesday showed major destruction in largely deserted residential neighborhoods.

Debris from collapsed walls and balconies littered the narrow alleys, covered with ripped electricity wires. Shells and shrapnel holes peppered some buildings. A burnt car and a parked pickup truck with a collapsed wall resting on lay on one deserted street.

Shells had struck a school and a mosque, and the backyard of a house was covered with fallen blocks. On another, steel-reinforced pillars lay twisted.

The video, taken at different periods between May 27 and June 10, showed very few residents. Six men were seen gathering around a hose to fill up cans with water. In one house, a family was sitting on the floor for a meal.