Lebanese troops pounds Islamists
Afp, Nahr al-Bared
Lebanese army tanks and helicopters pounded Islamist militiamen besieged in a Palestian refugee camp on Thursday after a night of violent clashes, AFP correspondents said. The latest bombardments broke a brief two-hour lull in the fighting between troops surrounding the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon and gunmen from the shadowy al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam group holed up inside. Military helicopters opened fire with heavy weapons and tanks fired shells on the impoverished camp, where the militants have been fighting the army since May 20 in the deadliest peacetime clashes in Lebanon in decades. The unrest in Nahr al-Bared and briefly in the neighbouring Mediterranean port city of Tripoli and around another Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the country has claimed a total of 108 lives.
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Lebanese soldiers secure the surroundings of the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon Wednesday. Gunbattles flared around the camp early Wednesday on the 18th day of a deadly standoff between Islamist gunmen and the army, amid reports some militants are surrendering. PHOTO: AFP |
