MIDDLE EAST:Islamist gunmen killed two Lebanese soldiers at a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon yesterday, the first fatal spillover from fighting between the army and al-Qaeda-inspired fighters in the north.
Two militants of the Jund al-Sham group were also killed in the clash on the edge of the big Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon, security and military sources said. Three soldiers and two civilians were wounded in the clashes. A Palestinian political source said that the spread of fighting to the south had forced leaders to begin contacts to seek a mediated settlement of the clashes between the army and militants at the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon.
"What happened at Ain al-Hilweh gave a very dangerous indication of where things will go if Nahr al-Bared battles continue," said the source.
The Lebanese army has been battling Sunni Islamist militants of the Fatah al-Islam group in the north since May 20th. At least 114 people have been killed in the fighting, Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The violence has further jolted stability in Lebanon, where a political stand-off between the western-backed government and Syria's Lebanese allies has paralysed state institutions since last year's war between Israel and Hizbullah guerrillas.
A Lebanese political source said that military action against the group might slacken at Nahr al-Bared. "It has become clear that it won't be easy to finish the Nahr al-Bared situation quickly through military means," said the source.
But information minister Ghazi Aridi said that military action would not halt until Fatah al-Islam surrendered. He said that the group had suffered a "major blow" with the death of several of its leaders and large number of militants. - (Reuters)