LEBANON: Army pounds Lebanon camp, nearly 100 soldiers dead

Record ID: 375265

  • Title: LEBANON: Army pounds Lebanon camp, nearly 100 soldiers dead
  • Date: 14th July 2007
  • Summary: HELICOPTER TAKING OFF
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVADJWOXQYP65KCO1M9H7YPCGCH3
  • Story Text: Fierce fighting continues at Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon as funeral of Lebanese soldier takes place in Akkar.

    Lebanese troops pounded a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Saturday (July 14) where barricaded al Qaeda-inspired militants fired eight Katyusha-type rockets, a military source said.
    The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have fought often ferocious battles at the coastal Nahr al-Bared refugee camp for nearly eight weeks with no sign the Islamist militants will heed calls to surrender.
    The fighting has killed at least 219 people since May 20, with soldier deaths alone nearing 100, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
    Security sources said a Lebanese soldier died early on Saturday from wounds inflicted in Friday's battles.
    Witnesses said the army fired artillery and tank shells at Nahr al-Bared while the militants responded with sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades from time to time. Plumes of smoke from explosions filled the skyline above the camp.
    A military source said the militants also fired eight rockets, most of which landed in nearby fields but caused no casualties. One landed in the sea and another failed to explode, the source said.
    In Akkar a funeral was held for the soldier Walid Mohammed al Hajj who died on Friday in the fighting with Fatah al Islam militants at the camp.
    Meanwhile a senior official of the Palestinian Fatah faction in Lebanon, Sultan Abu al Einein, held a news conference in Beddawi camp, where most of the Nahr al-Bared refugees have fled to.
    "We and the Lebanese have been attacked by this gang (Fatah al Islam) who stands behind it. We and the Lebanese are concerned with ending this phenomena so it will not become more dangerous for the Palestinians and affect the stability of Lebanon in the future," Abu al-Einein said.
    On Friday, the militants fired 18 of the 107 mm rockets, wounding two civilians.
    The military has increased its bombardment of the besieged camp since Thursday, anxious not to get sucked into a war of attrition with the well-trained and well-armed militants.
    But the militants have responded fiercely, killing 11 soldiers and wounding 48 in the last three days.
    At least 98 soldiers, 76 militants and 45 civilians have been killed in fighting with Islamist militants in the camp and other areas since May 20.
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