Lebanon army, Islamist militants clash at camp

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops and al Qaeda-inspired militants fought sporadically on Sunday at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, the scene of often ferocious battles that have entered their fifth week.

Witnesses said the army advanced near the northeastern entrance of the Nahr al-Bared camp on Sunday and was trying to control a school complex on the camp's coastal side but was facing resistance by the Fatah al-Islam militants.

Heavy overnight clashes had erupted between the army and militants and intermittent shelling flared especially on the northern and eastern sides of the Nahr al-Bared camp.

"Army units are continuing to exert their control ... and are cleansing buildings from boobytraps and tightening their grip (on the camp) until this abnormal phenomenon is terminated," a military source said.

The army has fought on the camp's outskirts but is banned from going into Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps under a 1969 Arab agreement.

The fighting is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war, killing at least 150 people, including 68 soldiers, more than 50 militants and 32 civilians, and has forced thousands of refugees to flee Nahr al-Bared, mostly to the nearby Beddawi camp.

Lebanese authorities have called for the militants to surrender and lay down their arms, demands they have repeatedly rejected.

Fatah al-Islam emerged late last year after its leader, Shaker al-Abssi, and some 200 fighters split from the pro-Syrian Palestinian faction Fatah al-Intifada (Uprising).

Members of Lebanon's Western-backed government link Fatah al-Islam to Syrian intelligence, although both the group and Damascus deny any links.

Fatah al-Islam's stated goals are to spread its vision of Sunni Islam among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and to fight Israel and the United States. The group has little support within the Palestinian community.