Lebanese army lays siege to Palestinian refugee camp

Lebanese troops tightened a siege of a Palestinian refugee camp today where a group suspected of ties to al-Qaida was hiding.

They pounded it with artillery a day after the worst eruption of violence since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

The death toll from yesterday’s violence climbed to near 50, but it was not known how many civilians have been killed inside the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli, the scene of the heaviest fighting. No new deaths have been reported today.

Lebanese officials said one of the men killed yesterday was a suspect in a failed German train bombing – another indication the camp had become a refuge for Fatah Islam militants planning attacks outside of Lebanon. In the past, others affiliated with the group in the camp have said they were aiming to send trained fighters into Iraq and the group’s leader has been linked to al-Qaida in Iraq.

Hundreds of Lebanese army troops, backed by tanks and armoured carriers, surrounded the refugee camp early today. M-48 battle tanks unleashed their cannon fire on the camp, sending orange flames followed by white plumes of smoke. The militants fired mortars toward the troops at daybreak.

An army officer at the front line said troops directed concentrated fire at buildings known to house militants in the camp. He said troops also had orders to strike hard at any target that directed fire back at them.

“Everything we know that they were present in has been targeted,” he told The Associated Press.

A spokesman for Fatah Islam, Abu Salim, warned that if the army bombardment did not stop, the militants would step up attacks by rockets and artillery “and would take the battle outside Tripoli”.

“It is a life-or-death battle. Their aim is to wipe out Fatah Islam. We will respond and we know how to respond,” he told the AP.

Earlier in the day, another refugee camp, Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon, was tense after Lebanese troops surrounded it and armed militants went on alert.

At least 27 soldiers and 20 militants were killed yesterday, Lebanese security officials said. But they did not know how many civilians had been killed in the camp because it was off-limits to their authority.