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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Jund el-Sham activist killed in s. Lebanon as battles rage in north
2007-07-16
Lebanese troops fought close-quarter battles with al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Sunday while an Islamist activist was gunned down in the south.

Security sources said unknown gunmen shot dead Dharrar Rifai at Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon. Rifai was a member of the now defunct Jund al-Sham group. Jund al-Sham was dissolved last month after clashes with the Lebanese army. Two groups dominate Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp: Fatah and al Qaeda-linked Usbat al-Ansar.

In north Lebanon, soldiers exchanged automatic rifle fire and grenades with militants at building and alleyways leading to the centre of Nahr al-Bared camp while army artillery pounded other areas. Fatah al-Islam militants hit back, firing a dozen Katyusha rockets at surrounding Lebanese villages. The fighting, which entered its ninth week on Sunday, has killed at least 219 people, including 98 soldiers, making it the worst internal violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Security sources said troops pulled out alive two commandos who had been buried under the rubble of a booby-trapped building that blew up on Saturday.

The military has increased its bombardment of the besieged camp since Thursday, anxious not to get sucked into a war of attrition with the well-trained and well-armed militants. But the militants have responded fiercely, killing 11 soldiers and wounding 53.
Posted by:Fred

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