38 die in Lebanon clashes
Monday, May 21, 2007
LEBANESE troops battled al-Qaeda-linked militants based in a Palestinian refugee camp yesterday with 38 people killed in Lebanon's bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.
Thirteen soldiers and 19 militants died in the clashes, which erupted before dawn at the Nahr al-Bared camp and spread into the nearby Sunni Muslim city of Tripoli in north Lebanon.
A cabinet minister said the fighting with Fatah al-Islam seemed timed to try to derail United Nations moves to set up an international court to try those suspected of carrying out political killings in Lebanon.
Medical sources in the camp said six civilians, including two children, were killed and 60 wounded.
The army was blasting militant positions in the camp with tank, mortar and machinegun fire, a military source said. More than 27 soldiers were wounded overall, the source added.
Fatah al-Islam said the army made an unprovoked attack. "We warn the Lebanese army of the consequences of continuing the provocative acts against our mujahideen who will open the gates of fire ... against (the army) and against the whole of Lebanon."
Reuters
Thirteen soldiers and 19 militants died in the clashes, which erupted before dawn at the Nahr al-Bared camp and spread into the nearby Sunni Muslim city of Tripoli in north Lebanon.
A cabinet minister said the fighting with Fatah al-Islam seemed timed to try to derail United Nations moves to set up an international court to try those suspected of carrying out political killings in Lebanon.
Medical sources in the camp said six civilians, including two children, were killed and 60 wounded.
The army was blasting militant positions in the camp with tank, mortar and machinegun fire, a military source said. More than 27 soldiers were wounded overall, the source added.
Fatah al-Islam said the army made an unprovoked attack. "We warn the Lebanese army of the consequences of continuing the provocative acts against our mujahideen who will open the gates of fire ... against (the army) and against the whole of Lebanon."
Reuters
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