14 Dead As Lebanese Troops Attack Refugee Camp

At least 14 people have died as Lebanese troops today resumed attacks on militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.

Under the cover of artillery fire, dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armored carriers closed in on fighters barricaded inside the Nahr al-Bared camp.

The bombardment began in the morning, with heavy barrages hitting all parts of the camp. Fatah Islam militants have been holed up in the camp in a 13-day siege by the Lebanese army.

At times 155mm shells exploded at a rate of 10 a minute, and smoke billowed from buildings inside as fires raged.

At least 12 people in the camp, and two soldiers, were killed in the clashes, security officials said. They said 18 soldiers were wounded but could not say whether the 12 who died inside Nahr al-Bared were militants or civilians.

Security sources said elite forces seized several key positions from Fatah al-Islam militants and destroyed sniper nests on the northern edge of Nahr al-Bared.

A Lebanese cabinet minister, Ahmed Fatfat, told al-Arabiya television that the army came under sniper fire and decided to respond. "It seems they have destroyed those positions."

The Palestinian representative to Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, told al-Jazeera television that the military action was limited to engaging militants on the camp's outer areas. He said there would be no storming of the camp's interior, where thousands of civilians remain.

A 1969 Arab agreement prevents the Lebanese army from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps, which are home to 400,000 refugees.

The army has clashed with militants in the camp - many of them al-Qaida-inspired foreign fighters - since May 20 in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

At least 84 people - 35 soldiers, 29 militants and 20 civilians - had been killed prior to today's violence.

"It is clear that this is the start of an army assault," said a Palestinian source with contacts in the camp. He said early reports indicated there were civilian casualties.

A military source said the army destroyed several structures overlooking its positions on the camp's edge. "Snipers have been using these outposts to fire at our soldiers," he said.

A statement posted on a website frequently used by al-Qaida urged militants in Lebanon to rise up and defend Fatah al-Islam.

"Islamists, rise up and aid your brothers in Nahr al-Bared. This is your religious duty," said the statement signed by known al-Qaida-linked militant Mohamed Hakaima.

The camp, set up in 1948 as a temporary tent camp to house Palestinian refugees fleeing their homes after the creation of Israel, is now a small town with small concrete buildings and narrow alleyways.

More than 25,000 have fled Nahr al-Bared to the smaller Beddawi camp nearby, but thousands more are still inside, along with the militants.

The Lebanese government has given Palestinian leaders in Lebanon a chance to find a way out of the stand-off because it fears the fighting could spark violence in other refugee camps.