Region | Lebanon
Lebanese minister warns militants
Elias Murr, Lebanon's defence minister has warned militants battling army forces in the north of the country that they will face further military action if they do not surrender.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 May 24, 2007
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Fighting between the Lebanese army and the Fatah Al Islam group has been raging since Sunday
Beirut: The Lebanese defence minister has warned militants battling army forces in the north of the country that they will face further military action if they do not surrender.
Hundreds of people fled the Nahr Al Bared refugee camp between after fighting between Lebanese army troops and militants from the Fatah Al Islam group stopped briefly on Wednesday night.
Lebanon was also hit by a third bomb attack after a blast in the mountain resort town of Aley injured five people.
As the crisis lurched into a fifth day, Lebanese defence minister Elias Murr branded the group “terrorists and criminals'' and said there would be no negotiations
Speaking to the Al Arabiya television channel, Mr Murr added: "Their fate is arrest, and if they resist the army, death.
"The first one, which we prefer, is that they surrender. The other, which we do not like, is military action."
At least 50 soldiers and militants have been killed in the bloodiest internal fighting in Lebanon since the civil war ended in 1990.
The fighting started on Sunday after Lebanese security forces in the northern town of Tripoli tried to arrest some Fatah Al Islam members who were suspects in an armed robbery case.
The militant group then attacked army posts at the entrances to the camp in retaliation before Lebanese soldiers bombarded the camp.
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