September 02, 2007, 18:30
Lebanese troops took control today of a Palestinian refugee camp where they had been battling militants for more than three months, killing at least 31 fighters who tried to flee, security sources said.
Twenty-three more fighters from the Fatah al-Islam group were captured, 12 of them wounded militants detained after the army took over the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, a security source said.
The fate of Shaker al-Abssi, the Palestinian leader of the group, which says it shares al-Qaeda's ideology but has no organisational ties to the network, was unclear.
The fighting has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war, killing more than 300 people.
Five soldiers were also killed today, raising the army death toll to 157. At least 131 militants and 42 civilians have been killed. The army had initially estimated that only 35 active fighters remained in the camp before Sunday.
An army statement said the militants had tried to escape from the camp in the early hours of the morning.
They "attacked army positions in a desperate attempt to flee", the statement said, urging citizens to contact the army if they encountered suspect individuals. - Reuters
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