The wife of Fatah al-Islam chief Shaker al-Abssi identified him on Monday among the bodies of militants killed in fighting with the Lebanese army, a military source said. According to AFP, Abssi was among at least 38 fighters from the Fatah al-Islam killed as the army seized control of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on Sunday.
She identified him at the morgue of the state-run hospital in the northern city of Tripoli, the source told AFP. The wife was accompanied by Palestinian clerics.
Another military source told AFP that Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha died on Monday as he was trying to flee Nahr al-Bared. According to the source, Taha was shot dead by Lebanese soldiers as he was hiding in an area just outside the seaside northern entrance to the camp. "He was killed in the Abdeh area," the source said.
Meanwhile, the army searched Monday for Fatah Islam fighters that may have escaped Sunday's battle. Patrol boats were out looking for bodies in the sea. Military helicopters flew over the camp in low reconnaissance runs, as smoke from smouldering fires rose into the sky.
