20 militants, 2 soldiers killed at Lebanon camp

Twenty Islamist militants and two Lebanese soldiers were killed in a battle today near a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, a security source said.

The Fatah al-Islam militants had been attempting to flee the Nahr al-Bared camp, where they have been battling the army for more than three months in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war, security sources said.

An army statement said the al Qaeda-inspired militants had staged a "desperate attempt to flee" the camp, which has been reduced to rubble by the battle.

The fighting, which erupted on May 20, has killed more than 300, including at least 154 soldiers, 120 militants and 42 civilians. Most of the camp's 40 000 residents fled in the early days of the battle to a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. - Reuters