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Explosions, gunfire at Palestinian camp after fresh ceasefire

Sporadic gunfire and occasional blasts were heard yesterday from a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a day after Lebanon's defense minister declared that Islamic militants inside the camp were defeated and that major combat was over.

A Muslim cleric who has been acting as a mediator said late on Thursday that the Fatah Islam fighters have agreed to stop firing, and calm descended over the Nahr el-Bared camp outside the port city of Tripoli.

But yesterday morning, two columns of white smoke were seen rising above the camp, as intermittent explosions rang out.

A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements, said the military were "actively working on dismantling and detonating land mines and bombs" that had been placed by the militants.

Occasional machine gun fire was also heard.

Nahr el-Bared's monthlong battle has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975 to 1990 civil war, killing 76 soldiers, at least 60 militants and more than 20 civilians. It came amid a fierce political power struggle between the Western-backed government and the militant Hezbollah-led opposition.

"The Lebanese army has destroyed all Fatah Islam positions," Defense Minister Elias Murr told the private Lebanese Broadcasting Television on Thursday night. "The army is combing the area. This terrorist organization has been uprooted."

Sheik Mohammed Haj of the Palestinian Scholars Association, a mediator who met with the militants' leaders during the week, said that Fatah Islam "has declared a ceasefire and will comply with the Lebanese army's decision to end military operations."

He said the militants would abide by conditions set by the army to end the fighting, but did not elaborate. Media said the deal included handing over Fatah Islam's wounded and dismantling the group.

Although Murr said that "the military operation is over," he stressed the camp would remain "a theater of operations and under siege."

He said that "what is happening now is some cleanup that the army's heroes are carrying out, and dismantling some mines."
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