Four Lebanese troops died overnight as the army resumed Thursday shelling the remaining positions of Fatah Islam militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said.
The shelling by artillery and tanks lasted more than an hour, witnesses told the AP.
The army, meanwhile, announced the names of four soldiers it said were killed in fighting Wednesday. The senior military official said Wednesday's deaths raised to 111 the number of soldiers killed since fighting broke out in the camp on May 20.
The army will continue its offensive until the militants surrender to Lebanese authorities, he said.
In response to the army's shelling, Fatah Islam fighters fired volleys of Katyusha rockets Thursday that landed in nearby villages, causing damage but no casualties, the state-run National News Agency reported. A Lebanese boy died and a young girl was injured in Wednesday's Katyusha rocket attacks on villages near the camp.
The Lebanese news agency said troops killed two snipers at dawn Thursday and captured "the Fatah Islam's main office" in an area where the militants remain holed up.
