Lebanese troops killed at least six Islamic militants during a gunbattle in northern Lebanon today.
Other militants took refuge in nearby forests, pursued by troops backed by helicopters, the official said.
Lebanese soldiers look on from their position during clashes with Islamist militants in Qalamoun town, northern Lebanon. Image: Reuters.
The clash occurred near the village of Qalamoun, a few miles south of the northern port city of Tripoli. A number of soldiers were slightly wounded, the official said.
"The operation has not ended yet because the army is still cleaning the area of booby traps and checking to see whether the gunmen's bodies were rigged with bombs," he said.
Hospital officials in Qalamoun said three Saudis and two Lebanese were among the militants killed. But a security official in Beirut said they were three Saudis, two Syrians and an Iraqi. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
The slain militants were members of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group, which has been fighting the Lebanese army in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli since May 20, a security official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Talal Dankar, Qalamoun's mayor, said the village was not affected because the fighting raged in remote mountainous areas.
"We first heard the din of gunfire before fighting intensified. We saw the army bringing in reinforcements to the mountainous area above Qalamoun," Dankar told the private Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation television.
The clashes in Qalamoun were the first there since Fatah Islam militants ambushed the army in the camp in Nahr el-Bared and in Qalamoun five weeks ago.
The fighting has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war, and is believed to have claimed the lives of more than 160, including 84 soldiers, at least 60 militants and more than 20 civilians.
Fatah Islam leaders have threatened to take their fight outside the camp if the government pursues its military offensive.
AP