Lebanon army 'in control' of camp

02/09/2007| IslamWeb

Lebanon's army says it has taken full control of a Palestinian refugee camp where its troops have been battling Islamist militants since May.

Officials say 37 Fatah al-Islam gunmen were killed in fighting that erupted when the remaining militants tried to break out of the Nahr al-Bared camp.

Troops fired celebratory shots to signal the end of the stand-off.

The fighting has killed more than 300 people and forced nearly 40,000 Palestinian refugees to flee.

A spokesman for the Lebanese prime minister told the BBC that resistance has collapsed at the camp and the army was now in control.

Troops are still hunting for any escaped militants in the surrounding area of northern Lebanon and the army issued a statement appealing to residents of nearby villages to help in the search.

Army officials said troops were no longer encountering any resistance and have moved inside the camp and are searching for booby traps and unexploded ordinance there.

Five soldiers are reported to have died in Sunday's violence.

A BBC correspondent in Lebanon says the fighting at the camp has been the worst internal violence in Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990.

Fatah al-Islam, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, emerged in 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.

The Lebanese government has also linked Fatah al-Islam to the Syrian intelligence services. Officials in Damascus and Fatah al-Islam deny the connection.

PHOTO CAPTION

Lebanese army soldiers make victory signs as they patrol an area next to Palestinian refugee cam Nahr Al-Bared