By DPA
Beirut : Fighting raged Tuesday between Lebanese troops and Islamist militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp, a day after Lebanese authorities declared they had killed the second-in-command of the Fatah al-Islam militant group.
The Lebanese army stepped up its fighting against the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants, using heavy mortar fire in attacks on their locations, the official National News Agency reported.
According to the report, the army targeted a Fatah al-Islam location in the so-called security square of the Nahr al-Bared camp Tuesday morning, sparking bloody battles.
The Lebanese army have been battling the militants of Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared camp, outside the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, since May 20. The bloodiest internal violence since the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war has killed more than 200 people.
The army has refused to halt its military offensive before the militants surrender, while the gunmen have vowed to fight to the death.
The Lebanese government lists Fatah al-Islam as a terrorist network aimed at destabilising Lebanon.
Late Monday, the Lebanese authorities announced they had killed the group’s deputy commander.
Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name is Shehab al-Qaddour, was killed a few days ago by police in Tripoli, near the Nahr al-Bared camp.
“The cabinet was informed by Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa that Lebanese security forces have killed Fatah al-Islam’s No. 2 in the Abu Samra neighbourhood” in Tripoli, Aridi told reporters following a cabinet meeting Monday night.
The whereabouts of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abbsi and Abu Hureira have been unknown since gun battles at the Nahr al-Bared camp first erupted.
Monday’s announcement marked the first official declaration that Abu Hureira had been killed. Abssi’s whereabouts remain unknown.