Lebanese troops took control yesterday of a Palestinian refugee
camp where they had been battling militants for more than three
months, killing at least 31 fighters who tried to flee, security
sources said.
Lebanese civilians
chant slogans and wave national flags as they celebrate the army
taking over of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon
September 2, 2007.
Twenty-three more fighters from the Fatah al-Islam group were
captured, 12 of them wounded militants detained after the army took
over the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, a security source
said.
"The battle is over. The Lebanese army has seized the last
positions of Fatah al-Islam in the camp," a senior security source
said.
"Most of the terrorists were killed today. The others have been
captured. A few might have escaped but the army is hunting them
down," the source added.
The fate of Shaker al-Abssi, the Palestinian leader of the group
which says it shares Al-Qaida's ideology but has no organizational
ties to the network, was unclear.
Lebanese soldiers
gesture on the outskirts of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in north
Lebanon September 2, 2007.
The fighting has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since
the 1975-90 civil war, killing more than 300 people.
Five soldiers were also killed yesterday, raising the army death
toll to 157. At least 131 militants and 42 civilians have been
killed. The army had initially estimated that only 35 active
fighters remained in the camp before yesterday.
An army statement said the militants had tried to escape from
the camp in the early hours of the morning.
They "attacked army positions in a desperate attempt to flee",
the statement said, urging citizens to contact the army if they
encountered suspect individuals.
At least three gunmen from outside the camp had also attacked an
army position in order to help the fighters escape, security
sources said.
Security forces patrolled the area, searching orchards and
fields, while helicopters hovered overhead in a hunt for any
militants who had managed to escape from the camp.
(China Daily via agencies September 3, 2007)
