Lebanese forces killed at least four al-Qaeda-inspired militants in battles Friday in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported. The report said the four Fatah Islam fighters died after they attacked an army position inside the Nahr el-Bared camp, located near the northern port city of Tripoli.
Also, the military announced Friday that three Lebanese soldiers died in the previous day's fighting in the camp. Their deaths raised to 131 the number of troops killed since fighting erupted May 20.
NNA's report said the military occasionally Friday pounded the militants' remaining hideouts in the "old camp" section. Responding to the army shelling, the militants fired two Katyusha rockets which hit a residential area and in the courtyard of a house in the village of Deir Amar, some five kilometres from the Nahr el-Bared, causing damage but no casualties, the NNA said. Six rockets fired Thursday by the militants on nearby villages damaged a power plant in Deir Amar but caused no casualties. The attack halted production at the plant and increased electricity rationing in Beirut and its suburbs.
Court officials said Friday that some 60 Fatah Islam members have been captured since the fighting began on May 20.
