Lebanese troops battle Islamists, 40 dead
LEBANON: Fighting between Lebanese troops and Islamic fighters left
40 dead in northern Lebanon, while an explosion in Beirut late Sunday
killed at least one woman and wounded 10 others.
Fierce gun battles raged in Lebanon between soldiers and the Fatah
al-Islam group, which has been accused of links to Al-Qaeda, in the
bloodiest such clashes in seven years.
In the Beirut blast, the first bombing in the city since January, a
63-year-old woman was killed and 10 people wounded in the Christian
quarter of Achrafie in Beirut, police and hospital sources told AFP.
"A woman of 63, Leila Moqbel, died," following the explosion, a
police officer from Lebanon's interior security force (FSI) told AFP.
Ten other people were wounded and taken to two hospitals in the
district, said hospital sources.
The FSI officer did not rule out the possibility that the explosion
had been caused by a device left in a parking lot near a major shopping
centre.
Several cars were destroyed in the blast, which blew out windows of
nearby residential buildings and damaged the entrance to the shopping
centre's parking garage.
Earlier Sunday, Lebanese troops staged a daylight assault on a
building in Tripoli where Fatah al-Islam militants were holed up after
deadly shootouts in the northern port city and a nearby Palestinian
refugee camp.
The army said the fighting was triggered when the militants staged an
attack on a military post outside Nahr al-Bared, home to about 22,000
refugees.
It said 23 soldiers were killed in the deadliest fighting between
security forces and Islamists since 2000, while 15 gunmen were killed,
10 of them in Tripoli.
A Lebanese civilian died after being caught in the crossfire when
troops stormed the building in a residential neighbourhood of Lebanon's
second largest city.
A Palestinian refugee was also killed by the Lebanese army's
bombardment of the Nahr al-Bared camp, a Fatah al-Islam stronghold.
Lebanon sent in heavy troop reinforcements to contain the battles
involving anti-tank rockets and cannons which erupted at dawn in Tripoli
and around Nahr al-Bared.
But the sound of gunfire continued to rattle through the streets
shortly before sunset and even in the capital, patrols and roadblocks
were visibly stepped up, with armoured cars circulating on the streets.
The army said two of its soldiers were killed in renewed fighting
around the Nahr al-Bared camp in the early evening.
After an emergency meeting with security chiefs, the cabinet
authorised the army to "take all necessary measures to restore order."
Four wounded Palestinians were evacuated from Nahr al-Bared, a Red
Crescent spokesman said, adding that there were more casualties still
inside the camp.
"The blows dealt by Fatah al-Islam against the Lebanese army are a
premeditated crime and a dangerous attempt to destabilise (Lebanon),"
charged Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
His Western-backed government has been paralysed for months by an
acute political crisis.
According to various sources, more than 30 Lebanese soldiers, 16
police, seven civilians and about 40 refugees were also wounded in the
violence.
Syria, the former power broker in Lebanon, announced it had closed
two border posts into its smaller neighbour because of the violence.
Lebanese authorities have accused Fatah al-Islam, a splinter group
said to be ideologically close to Osama bin Laden's network, of working
for the Syrian intelligence services, which Damascus has denied.
Tripoli, Monday, AFP |