Army battles militants in the north

Nahr Al Bared: Lebanese troops battled militants based in a Palestinian refugee camp yesterday and 48 people were killed in Lebanon's bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.

Twenty-three soldiers and 19 militants died in the clashes, which erupted before dawn on the edge of the Nahr Al Bared camp and in the nearby city of Tripoli in north Lebanon.

A cabinet minister said the fighting with Fatah Al Islam, which the government says is backed by Syria, seemed timed to try to derail UN moves to set up an international court to try those suspected of carrying out political killings in Lebanon.

Four of the soldiers were killed in an attack on an army patrol in Al Qalamoun just south of Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, security sources said.

Unprovoked violence

They said 15 militants were killed when troops stormed buildings they had occupied in Tripoli and four in the camp, home to 40,000 refugees.

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 20 soldiers were wounded overall, the source added.

Fatah Al Islam said the army had launched 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," it said in a statement faxed to Reuters.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

Syrian denial

Cabinet minister Ahmad Fatfat, speaking in Tripoli, said the violence was part of efforts to sabotage UN moves to set up the international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Syria also denies any link to Fatah Al Islam, whose leader, Shaker Al Abssi, says the group has no organisational links to Al Qaida but agrees with its aim of fighting "infidels".

Syria said it had closed two border crossings to north Lebanon due the violence. The main crossing remained open.

Fatfat told Lebanon's pro-government Future TV: "There is someone trying to create security chaos to say to world public opinion: 'Look, if the tribunal is established, there will be security trouble in Lebanon'."