NAHR AL-BARED (Lebanon), June 1: Fighting erupted anew on Friday between troops besieging a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon and Islamist militants holed up inside, where the humanitarian situation was described as desperate.

The troops were battling to prevent Fatah al-Islam fighters from reaching high points within Nahr al-Bared from where sniper fire had targeted the army and civilians fleeing since the clashes first broke out on May 20, a military spokesman said.

“The army is attempting to prevent the gunmen from using high points for sniper fire. We are now controlling high points just outside the camp,” said the spokesman.

“The army did not enter the camp, but has controlled tall buildings inside the camp from a distance,” said the spokesman, adding that the army had not suffered any casualties.

A security source said the army had made “progress” on the northwestern part of Nahr al-Bared where most Fatah al-Islam militiamen were deployed and where “an important target” of the militia was destroyed early on Friday.

Eighty people, including 35 soldiers, have been confirmed killed since the fighting first broke out on May 20.

An army spokesman earlier said the fighting flared again when militants of the Al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam group opened fire at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT) on army positions outside the camp.

He said they also fired on the main road linking it to the nearby city of Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest, making the route all but impassable.

“The army responded with precision fire from tanks and mortars in a legitimate act of defence and in an attempt to spare civilians” inside the camp, he said.

The fighting was centred around the camp's northwestern entrance, a correspondent at the scene said.

A dozen or so tanks had concentrated in the area and pounded buildings used by Fatah al-Islam fighters.

The government, pushing for a peaceful end to the standoff, has insisted that Fatah al-Islam hand over fighters to stand trial for attacking its armed forces during the bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.

But the group is adamant that none of its fighters will be surrendered.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Hajj, a member of a delegation of clerics attempting to mediate a solution, said on Thursday that “the situation is still complicated and requires more discussions in order to close the gap between the points of views of the two sides.”

After a meeting in Beirut on Friday morning with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, the representative in Lebanon of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said he had been told “concrete measures will be taken to put an end to the hostage-taking of the camp.” —AFP