By DPA
Ain al-Hilweh (Lebanon) : Lebanese troops were on full alert Monday around a Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the country, after overnight fighting raised fears that the army could face a second battlefront separate to the ongoing siege of Nahr al-Bared.
Troops sealed off all entrances to the Ain al-Hilweh camp, east of the southern port city of Sidon, following a clash between the army and militants of an Islamist group calling itself Jund al-Sham.
Two soldiers and two Islamist extremists were killed in the fighting near the settlement, the largest of Lebanon's 12 refugee camps.
The new fighting comes amid the continued siege of Al Qaeda inspired militiamen in the Nahr al-Bared camp in the north, where the army has been engaged in a 16-day standoff that has left more than 100 dead.
The Lebanese army has since early Monday been sending more reinforcements to Ain al-Hilweh, to prevent any new clashes. Security has been boosted in Sidon where schools were closed, many shops remained shut and traffic was slow.
Inside the camp, the mainstream Fatah movement is backing government troops against the extremist gunmen and is in contact with Lebanese authorities to try to end the latest confrontation.
The latest clashes have added to fears that violence could spread to more of Lebanon's 12 settlements housing Palestinian refugees.
A total of 107 people have now been killed in 16 days of bloodshed, described as the deadliest internal clashes in Lebanon since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.