Mohammara, Lebanon – Lebanon’s army crushed the last remnants of a militant group in a ferocious gun battle Sunday that killed 39 of the fighters, ending a bloody three-month siege at a Palestinian refugee camp that was the country’s worst internal violence in years.
Nearby villages celebrated with fireworks, drumming and dancing after the government declared victory.
The al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam fighters made their last stand by trying to stage a dawn breakout from the siege at the Nahr el-Bared camp, triggering the final gun battles.
The breakout began when militants sneaked through an underground tunnel to an area of the camp under army control and fought with troops. At the same time, another group of militants struck elsewhere to try to escape. They were aided by outside fighters who arrived in cars, according to security officials and state-run TV reports.
Troop reinforcements deployed close to the camp on Lebanon’s northern Mediterranean coastline. They blocked roads to prevent fighters from sneaking out, residents said.
Helicopters provided aerial reconnaissance, and checkpoints were erected as far as Beirut and in southern Lebanon around the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, another hotbed for Islamic militants.
Troops hunted the militants down in buildings, fields and roads around the camp, residents said, and the army launched dragnets to capture any still at large.
Residents of nearby villages, armed with guns and sticks, fanned out to protect their houses and prevent the fighters from seeking refuge and melting into the local population, state television reported.
Smoke billowed from fields near the camp where residents said the army set fire to bushes to deny militants a hiding place.
Officials said the army killed 39 militants and captured at least 15 others when they broke out of the camp and attempted to flee.
The army said three soldiers were killed in Sunday’s fighting and two Saturday, raising to 158 the number of troops who have died in the conflict – Lebanon’s worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.
More than 20 civilians and more than 60 militants have also been killed.
