NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanese army helicopters on Tuesday attacked positions held by Islamist militants entrenched in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon, an AFP correspondent said.

The gunships staged repeated air raids on Fatah al-Islam positions inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared where the army has besieged the extremist militants since May 20, he said.

The army had warned it would intensify attacks after Friday's evacuation from the camp of the militants' wives and children, a total of 63 people.

Palestinian are now continuing to try to negotiate the evacuation of nine wounded Fatah al-Islam members from Nahr al-Bared.

One cleric told AFP the army has insisted that the wounded would only be evacuated when the remaining fighters, thought to number about 70, surrender.

Sheikh Iyad Abu al-Ardat, another member of the League of Palestine Clerics, told AFP that evacuees with Syrian travel documents have already left for neighbouring Syria over the weekend.

He said evacuees with Jordanian travel documents headed to Jordan by land from Syria on Tuesday.

Those with Lebanese documents have stayed with relatives or at other Palestinian refugee camps in the country, he said.

The wife of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi was staying at an undisclosed location known to Lebanese security officials, Ardat said.

The army has suffered 148 soldiers killed since the confrontations erupted on May 20 when Fatah al-Islam attacked military targets in the north.

Nahr al-Bared was home to 31,000 Palestinian refugees when the fighting erupted with the Islamists, who claim ideological ties to Al-Qaeda. Most residents of the camp fled shortly after fighting began.

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