NAHR AL BARED (Lebanon): Lebanese troops made a breakthrough on Thursday in the final part of a refugee camp in the north of the country where militants remain holed up, an officer said.

“The army made a breakthrough in the last quarter where the Fatah Al Islam gunmen are entrenched” in Nahr Al Bared, an officer said.

The soldiers “destroyed some buildings with explosives, uncovering the entrances to underground tunnels and fortifications” still held by the die-hard extremists, he said.

An army spokesman confirmed there had been progress.

“This advance is progressing slowly because of the rubble and the booby-trapped terrain,” he said.

Meanwhile, the military continued to bombard Nahr Al Bared, triggering a number of fires in the shantytown, an AFP correspondent said.

Sheikh Mohamad Al Hajj, a cleric who has acted as a mediator in previous bids to end the crisis, said the army had agreed to let his team enter the camp again to contact Fatah Al Islam.

But a military spokesman would not confirm this, saying only that the army “seeks the unconditional surrender of the gunmen”.—AFP