NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, July 16, 2007 (AFP) - Two Lebanese soldiers were killed on Monday as the army continued to make advances in its eight-week-old battle to crush Islamists besieged in a refugee camp.

"Two soldiers were killed in the confrontations" around the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a military spokesman told AFP.

The overall reported death toll from the clashes has now reached 188, including 99 soldiers.

Soldiers exchanged machinegun fire with fighters from the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam militia in the camp as troops also unleashed artillery fire, an AFP correspondent said.

"We are continuing to make advances on the ground, and we continue to tighten the noose on the gunmen," said the spokesman.

The army has reported significant progress in its battle against the gunmen since Saturday, raising Lebanese flags on buildings seized from the Islamists in the battered camp on the Mediterranean coast.

An army spokesman said the militiamen now controlled an area only 300 metres (yards) by 600 metres on a small hill inside the camp, left in ruins by the bloodiest internal battles since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The government has vowed to eradicate Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy band which first surfaced in the camp late last year and includes extremists of various Arab nationalities.

©2007 AFP All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.

top