Al-Qaeda-inspired militants killed four Lebanese soldiers today in fierce battles at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, security sources said.
They said another nine soldiers were wounded in the Nahr al-Bared camp fighting that began in the early morning after Fatah al-Islam snipers shot dead two soldiers, prompting Lebanese troops to unleash barrages of artillery fire.
The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp for nearly eight weeks. At least 209 people have been killed, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Security and political sources said yesterday the army, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, had decided to mount an all-out assault on the camp to root out the militants, who have defied demands that they surrender.
But a military statement denied today's fighting was a final push. "The current ongoing military operations are still in the framework of tightening the noose on the gunmen to force them to surrender and submit to justice," it said.
Witnesses said the army was bombarding the camp from all sides, often at a rate of seven to ten artillery shells per minute. Black smoke billowed from the camp's bombed-out, smoldering buildings, most of which have been reduced to rubble.
Today's fighting was the most ferocious since the Lebanese defense minister declared on June 21st that all major combat operations had ceased at Nahr al-Bared after the army seized all militants' posts in its outskirts.
At least 91 soldiers, 75 militants and 43 civilians have been killed in fighting with Islamist militants in the camp and other areas since May 20th.