Aid reaches Lebanon refugee camp

Nahr Al Bared, Lebanon: A fragile truce allowed aid trucks to enter a battered Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon yesterday after three days of fierce battles between Lebanese army troops and militants.

Civilians took advantage of the lull to pack their cars and flee, flying white flags from their windows. Journalists saw two wounded people lying in pools of blood in the street.

But a number of aid workers were forced to leave when shells exploded near their convoy, wounding at least two people. A UN convoy had to withdraw amid sporadic blasts and gunfire.

Residents begged journalists to evacuate them. A man trying to carry a wounded woman to safety had to leave her in the street when bullets began flying.

Heavy fighting at Nahr Al Bared camp, home to 40,000 people near the northern city of Tripoli, raged from dawn until the afternoon.

The army has been attacking Fatah Al Islam, an Al Qaida-inspired group based in the camp since last year. Clashes died down after Fatah Al Islam said it would cease fire if the army did the same. The United Nations used the lull to try to deliver food, water and medical supplies to the camp.

Shocked camp residents emerged from their homes to see the destruction. Shell fire had torn huge holes in buildings. Gunmen roamed the rubble-strewn street. No casualty toll was available.

"What the hell were they [the army] doing? Did they think they were fighting the Israeli army?" resident Mahmoud Tayyar asked.

The aid relief came as a Fatah Al Islam militant blew himself up in a building in Tripoli, a security source said. There were no other casualties.

In Beirut, a bomb exploded in a shopping area in a mainly Sunni area on Monday night, wounding at least seven people. It appeared to mirror a blast on Sunday that killed a woman.