Army units widen control over Nahr Al Bared areas

Nahr Al Bared: Heavy fighting raged between Lebanese troops and Al Qaida-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp, the battleground for Lebanon's bloodiest internal violence since the civil war.

Heavy shelling continued especially at the northern entrance of the Nahr Al Bared camp, while fires raged and smoke billowed from the camp's cinderblock buildings. The militants retaliated by firing rockets at army posts on a nearby hill.

A military source said the army took control of a key position of Fatah Al Islam on the camp's coastal side. The army has suffered heavy losses, especially by sniper attacks from the militants' hideouts.

"Army units widened their control over areas in Nahr Al Bared and worked on controlling and capturing new positions of the gunmen, forcing them to flee," an army statement said.

"The army command repeats its call on the gunmen ... to lay down their weapons and to surrender so that justice can run its course."

Al Abssi's house razed

At least 136 people, including 60 soldiers, have been killed since the battles started on May 20, the worst since the 1975-1990 civil war. Security sources said five soldiers were wounded in yesterday's battles.

A special forces unit on Monday destroyed the house of Shaker Al Abssi, leader of the Al Qaida inspired militia which has been battling the troops. "They destroyed the house after seizing important documents," a military spokesman said. He said Abssi was not in the house at the time.

Meanwhile, a spokesman said the army arrested four fighters yesterday,

Relief workers have been struggling to evacuate civilians still trapped inside the camp. Two Leb-anese Red Cross volunteers were killed in the fighting on Monday.

"The shelling is haphazard on the civilians. My cousin is lying dead in front of me and I can't move her," a hysterical Palestinian resident inside the camp said.