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Fatah al-Islam militants threaten to widen attacks

Islamist militants threatened yesterday to widen attacks if Lebanese tanks and helicopter gunships continued to pound their strongholds inside an impoverished refugee camp.

The threat came on the 19th day of a deadly standoff as troops bombarded Fatah al-Islam positions in the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, shattering a two-hour lull in fighting and adding to fears about the plight of marooned refugees.

"We will widen the scope of the attacks beyond Nahr al-Bared" if the army continues its "destructive bombardment," Fatah al-Islam spokesman Shahine Shahine said.

On the ground, helicopter gunships opened fire with heavy weapons and tanks fired shells on the impoverished camp, where the militants have been fighting the army in the deadliest peacetime clashes in Lebanon in decades.

The unrest in Nahr al-Bared and briefly in the neighboring Mediterranean port city of Tripoli and around another Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the country has claimed a total of 108 lives.

Aid groups have voiced concern about the humanitarian situation in Nahr al-Bared where the fighting was obstructing supplies to the more than 3,000 refugees out of the original 31,000 inhabitants still remaining.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned the refugees face a new threat from unexploded munitions which were also obstructing relief aid.

"It is becoming extremely difficult to mount relief operations, not only because of the deteriorating security conditions, but also because debris and rubble and unexploded ordnance on the camp's roads are obstructing the way for ambulances and relief vehicles," said Jordi Raich Curco, ICRC chief in Lebanon.

"We are concerned about the plight of those trapped inside," Curco said. "Since the fighting began, some two weeks ago, power has been cut off and clean water has become scarce."

Early yesterday, a hand grenade blew up in a Christian suburb of Beirut, damaging several vehicles and further rattling the security situation after a series of bomb blasts in and around the capital.
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