Lebanon: fighting at second refugee camp

Islamist militants have attacked Lebanese troops at a second Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

Two soldiers, one civilian and two militants were killed in the fighting that threatens to plunge the country into long-term instability.

The clashes, at the entrance to the Ain al-Hilweh camp, appeared to be an attempt to open a new front in the south against the army that could ease the pressure on the al-Qaeda-inspired fighters at Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon.

Witnesses said fighters of the Sunni Muslim militant Jund al-Sham group had been involved in clashes with Lebanese troops three times.

Three soldiers and two civilians were also wounded in the fighting, started by the gunmen.

Jund al-Sham is a very small group that has sided with Fatah al-Islam, the group fighting the army at Nahr al-Bared, though there are no apparent organisational links between the two.

In a statement, the Lebanese army said: "The (army leadership) indicates that attacks on the army by armed groups are persisting from the Palestinian camps.

"It urges all Palestinian factions and Lebanese politicians to take a decisive stand so that these camps do not become a source of civil strife that aims to hit the nation's stability."

In the north, Fatah al-Islam fighters have so far refused to give up their weapons or surrender, putting up stiff resistance despite being vastly outgunned and outnumbered.

Since Friday, the army has conducted an intensive assault on Fatah al-Islam positions at the camp's entrances with the aim of wiping out the militants.

A 1969 Arab agreement prevents the army from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps, home to 400,000 refugees.

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