39 killed in clash between Lebanese army, militants

TRIPOLI, Lebanon -- Lebanese army tanks pounded a shadowy group suspected of ties to al-Qaida on Sunday, targeting its hideouts inside a Palestinian refugee camp after hours of clashes killed at least 22 soldiers and 17 militants.

The violence between the army and the Fatah Islam group erupted both in the northern port city of Tripoli and the adjacent Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. It added further instability to a country already mired in its worst political crisis between the Western-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition since the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war.

It was the most serious fight the army had engaged in Lebanon in more than a decade and the worst violence to hit Tripoli in two decades.

The clashes between army troops surrounding the camp and Fatah Islam fighters began after a gunbattle raged in a neighborhood in Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni city known to have Islamic fundamentalists, witnesses said.

Fighting spread after police raided suspected Fatah Islam hideouts in several buildings in Tripoli, searching for men wanted in a recent bank robbery. A gunbattle ensued and troops were called in to help the police.

Militants then burst out of the refugee camp, seizing Lebanese army positions, capturing two armored vehicles and ambushing troops. They killed two soldiers on roads leading to the city.

Smoke billowed from the camp as a steady barrage of artillery and heavy machine gunfire from army positions pounded militant positions inside.

Security forces were able to quell the resistance in Tripoli after sundown, and troops seized all positions around the refugee camp late Sunday, the army said.