The usual suspects: Saudis, Syrians, Iraqis Lebanese troops on Thursday killed six Fatah al-Islam militants during clashes in the wilds near the town of Qalamoun in northern Lebanon, military sources said. They said a number of soldiers were also slightly wounded in the army operation that began at daybreak Thursday, after an army raid, acting on a tip-off that Fatah al-Islam militants were using the mountainous area as a hide-out.
Troops, backed by helicopters, pursued the fighters who had taken refuge in Qalamoun's forests and caves. A military official said the militants were eliminated in the operation, but the army was still combing the area. "The operation has not ended yet because the army is still cleaning the area of booby traps and checking to see whether the (slain) gunmen's bodies were rigged with bombs," the official told The Associated Press.
Hospital officials in Qalamoun also said six militants were killed in the clash -- three Saudis, two Lebanese and a sixth man whose nationality was not immediately known. But a security official in Beirut identified the slain fighters as three Saudis, two Syrians and an Iraqi. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Talal Dankar, Qalamoun's mayor, said life in the town was not affected because the fighting raged in remote mountainous areas. "We first heard the din of gunfire before fighting intensified. We saw the army bringing in reinforcements to the mountainous area above Qalamoun," Dankar told LBCI TV. "The army has eliminated the gunmen."
The mountainous site was near where Fatah al-Islam militants mounted a deadly ambush on the army at the outbreak of the violence last month.