Lebanon: refugee camp battle rages

The death toll continues to rise at a Palestinian refugee camp in the Lebanon almost eight weeks after fighting began.

At least 214 people have been killed in battles between Lebanese troops and al-Qaeda-inspired militants, making it the country's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Security sources said seven soldiers died in ferocious fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants at Nahr al-Bared camp on Thursday. Witnesses said the army was bombarding the largely destroyed camp with artillery and tanks and militants were responding with sniper and rocket fire.

The military, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, has stepped up pressure on the camp to force the militants to surrender.

But the well-trained and well-armed mainly Arab fighters, some of whom have fought in Iraq or had trained to fight there, have so far rejected all calls to lay down their arms.

The latest battles are the most ferocious since the Lebanese defence minister declared on June 21 that all major combat operations had ceased after the army seized the militants' posts on the camp's outskirts.

A 1969 Arab agreement banned Lebanese security forces from entering Palestinian camps. The agreement was annulled by the Lebanese parliament in the mid-1980s but the accord effectively stayed in place.

At least 94 soldiers, 75 militants and 44 civilians have been killed in fighting with Islamist militants in the camp and other areas since May 20.

The violence has further undermined stability in Lebanon, where a paralysing 8-month political crisis has been compounded by bombings in and around Beirut.

The country has yet to recover from last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

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