Fighting rages in Lebanese camp

21/05/2007| IslamWeb

Intense fighting is raging between troops and Islamist militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

At least nine civilians have died in the clashes at Nahr al-Bared camp, near Tripoli, officials there said.

Thick plumes of smoke are choking the sky over the camp as soldiers attack the militants with tanks and artillery.

Fatah al-Islam, a group accused of links to al-Qaeda and Syria, has threatened to widen its campaign if troops do not stop the shelling.

A spokesman for the group, Abu Salim, told French news agency AFP: "The army is not only opening fire on us, it is shelling blindly.

"If this continues, we will carry the battle outside the city of Tripoli."

Failed ceasefire

Red Cross officials have appealed for a truce to let aid agencies reach those worst affected by the violence.

A planned two-hour ceasefire on Monday ended after just a few minutes, with clashes resuming before United Nations and Red Cross vehicles could enter the camp.

Medical workers have only been able to evacuate a few of the many injured civilians trapped inside the camp and water supplies have been hit in the clashes.

The UN Secretary-General's special envoy, Terje Roed-Larson, condemned the violence as he met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after presenting a report on Lebanon to the UN Security Council.

"We both are deeply concerned about the situation in Lebanon," Mr Roed-Larson said. "The recent violence there is of deep concern to both of us."

Bank robbers

The fighting, which began on Monday, is the bloodiest internal conflict in Lebanon since the civil war ended 17 years ago.

On Sunday, 50 people were killed at the camp, which houses about 40,000 Palestinian refugees.

More than 20 soldiers and 20 militants were killed, as well as an unconfirmed number of civilians, in clashes around the camp.

The clashes erupted when security forces tried to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. Militants from Fatah al-Islam then attacked army posts at the entrances to the camp.

The Lebanese army regained control of the camp's perimeter but clashes have continued.

Lebanon is clearly determined to eradicate Fatah al-Islam but the militant group is well armed, highly motivated and well dug in, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

Civilian casualties have not been confirmed by the Lebanese authorities which, under a 38-year-old deal, are not allowed to go into the camp.

Lebanon is home to more than 350,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom fled or left their homes when Israel was created in 1948.

Nahr al-Bared has been under scrutiny since two bus bombings in a Christian area of Beirut in February, blamed on Fatah al-Islam militants based in the camp.

Fatah al-Islam is a radical Palestinian splinter group alleged to have links with al-Qaeda. Lebanese officials also believe it has ties to Syrian intelligence. Other Palestinian groups have distanced themselves from Fatah al-Islam.

There are rival theories about what lies behind the latest violence, says the BBC's Roger Hardy.

Government ministers suspect Syria is behind the violence, with the aim of destabilizing the country.

PHOTO CAPTION

Smoke rises from the camp as fighting continued on Monday