June 08, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

NAHR AL-BARED (Lebanon), June 7: Islamist militants locked in a standoff with the Lebanese army threatened on Thursday to widen attacks as tanks and helicopter gunships pounded their strongholds inside an impoverished refugee camp.

The warning came on the 19th day of the battle as sporadic fire continued to range between troops fighting Fatah al-Islam militiamen at Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon.

“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, a soldier was killed on Thursday as the army mounted assaults using helicopter gunships equipped with heavy weapons and tanks.

His death brought to 109 the total number of people killed since the start of the army campaign to wipe out the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam, including 48 soldiers.

But as fighting subsided later in the day, a group of Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic clerics entered the camp on a mediation mission, a source close to the mediators said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that they face a new threat from unexploded munitions, which were also obstructing relief aid to around 4,000 of the original 31,000 residents still trapped in precarious conditions.

“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. Since the fighting began, some two weeks ago, power has been cut off and clean water has become scarce.” The unrest at Nahr al-Bared and briefly in the neighbouring Mediterranean port of Tripoli, as well as near a refugee camp in the south of the country, are the deadliest peacetime clashes in Lebanon in decades.

Early on Thursday, a hand grenade exploded 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.

Another grenade blew up in the mountainous region of Dahr al-Wahesh, east of Beirut, without causing damage.

Two sticks of dynamite also exploded in a bathroom at the Maronite church's Notre Dame University in the northern town of Koura, without causing any casualties, an official said.

Security forces also dismantled three booby-trapped cars in the eastern village of Bar Elias, following confessions by two Syrians, an Iraqi and a Palestinian who were arrested for possessing weapons a day earlier.

The four are accused of being Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist extremists.

The Lebanese authorities have demanded that the Fatah al-Islam militants entrenched in Nahr al-Bared surrender, particularly those blamed for killing 27 soldiers on the first day of the fighting which erupted on May 20.

But Shahine said most of the wanted men had been killed or wounded. “Very few of them are still taking part in the fight,” he said.

The mainstream Palestinian faction Fatah, which is not linked to Fatah al-Islam, said some members of the Sunni Muslim group had surrendered but there was no confirmation of this.—AFP