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Helicopters pound terrorists in north Lebanon camp
Helicopter gunships pounded terrorist bunkers in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared Thursday and troops advanced across the rubble to uproot Fatah al-Islam militants. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the Gazelle gunships fired a total of 12 rockets at Fatah al-Islam bunkers as the troops advanced to wipe out the remaining terrorists in the camp. The bombs are of UH - 1H type and each weighs about 454 kg or 1000 lbs, according to army sources . These bombs are left over from the Hawker Hunter fleet. The Hawker Hunter was a British jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s.

Reporters quoted an officer as saying "the army made a breakthrough in the last quarter where the Fatah al-Islam gunmen are entrenched." The soldiers "destroyed some buildings with explosives, uncovering the entrances to underground tunnels and fortifications" still held by the die-hard extremists, he said.

An army spokesman confirmed there had been progress on Thursday. "This advance is progressing slowly because of the rubble and the booby-trapped terrain," he said.

Meanwhile, the military continued to bombard Nahr al-Bared, starting a number of fires in the impoverished shantytown, a reporter said. Sheikh Mohamad al-Hajj, a Muslim cleric who has acted as a mediator in previous bids to end the crisis, said the army has agreed to let his team enter the camp again to contact Fatah al-Islam. But a military spokesman would not confirm this, saying only that the army "seeks the unconditional surrender of the gunmen."

More than 200 people, including 136 soldiers, have been killed since the conflict started on May 20. Most of the camp's 3o,000 residents have fled since the battles erupted, but about 60 women and children related to Fatah al-Islam fighters remain in Nahr al-Bared. The army has accused the Islamists of using them as human shields.
Posted by: Fred 2007-08-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=195868