Fighting Continues in Lebanon Camp

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - White smoke rose from a Palestinian refugee camp Sunday as the Lebanese army resumed its bombardment of Islamic militants holed up there, the third day of a military offensive aimed at crushing the al-Qaida-inspired fighters.

After an overnight lull, artillery shelling could be heard in the morning.

But unlike the first two days of the offensive against Fatah Islam when the army targeted areas on the edges of the Nahr el-Bared camp, Sunday's artillery fire was directed at militant positions deep inside the camp, indicating that troops were advancing further inside.

There was no way to tell exactly how deep the army had advanced into the camp, because the area had been sealed off and journalists were kept away.

Officials said Sunday that a top Fatah Islam militant who was known to send fighters to Iraq was killed in fighting with the Lebanese troops. Naim Deeb Ghali, also known as Abu Riad, was the third-in-command of the group, said Lebanese security officials on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Fatah Islam's deputy commander, Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name is Shehab al-Qaddour, said that Abu Riad, was killed Friday. Asked if Abu Riad was a senior Fatah Islam official, Abu Hureira said, "he is a brother."

As part of the intensifying assault, the army on Saturday added air power to the battle. A helicopter gunship was deployed for the first time since fighting began May 20, firing two missiles and strafing militant positions. The air attack was an apparent attempt to block an escape route to the Mediterranean Sea.

Four soldiers were killed and 10 wounded Saturday in the offensive aimed at uprooting the militant gunmen barricaded inside the camp on the outskirts of this Lebanese port city.

The casualties raised the army's deaths to 38 in two weeks. At least 20 civilians and about 60 militants have been killed, but casualties in the camp in the last two days were unknown because relief organizations were banned from entering. A Fatah Islam official said two fighters were wounded during the past two days.

The Lebanese government has demanded that the militants surrender, saying it's the only way to stop the assault.

The militants "have no choice but to surrender," Prime Minister Fuad Saniora told Al-Arabiya television, adding that the government would "assure this group justice and a fair trial." He said about 250 Fatah Islam members were still in the camp.

But Abu Hureira, vowed the militants would fight to their deaths, though he acknowledged fighters abandoned some positions on the camp's northern edge in a "tactical" withdrawal.

"Let them come. We are ready," Abu Hureira told The Associated Press by cell phone Saturday, gunfire crackling in the background as he spoke. He denied reports that he and the group's leader, Shaker Youssef al-Absi, were wounded.

While the army launched its offensive against the militants, there also were signs that Palestinians trapped inside the camp were trying to squeeze the fighters out. Most of the camp's 31,000 refugees have fled to the nearby Beddawi camp, but at least 5,000 are believed still inside.

Abu Jaber, an official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - a key Palestinian guerrilla faction that has stayed out of the fighting - told Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. TV that Palestinians were locking up houses and barricading camp neighborhoods to keep militants out.

Lebanese security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make statements to media, said Nahr el-Bared had been strategically divided into three zones. The army was controlling one zone, the militants held another, while Palestinian civilians and guerrillas controlled the third and were refusing the militants sanctuary, they said.

The army alleged the armed militants had taken up positions in the camp mosques and humanitarian centers, holding civilians as "human shields." It was not clear how the military knew this or how many Palestinians were used as human shields. The militants have denied the accusation.