Lebanese troops bombarded Islamist militiamen with tank shells and heavy artillery on Monday, the second day of the bloodiest internal fighting since the civil war that has now left 55 people dead and raised fears about Lebanon's fragile security. Nine civilians were killed in heavy shelling of a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, besieged by soldiers in tanks who are battling militants from the shadowy Sunni group Fatah al-Islam, a camp medic said. Huge plumes of thick black smoke billowed into the sky over the Nahr al-Bared camp, which has been turned into a war zone by ferocious gunbattles between soldiers and Fatah al-Islam, a group accused of links to Al-Qaeda and Syrian intelligence services.
Warships patrolled nearby coastal waters, troops were locked in heavy exchanges of artillery and machinegun fire and a military spokesman said the army had extended its control to all camp entrances. But Fatah al-Islam threatened to extend attacks beyond Tripoli if the army continues to pound its positions.
Fears were mounting of a humanitarian crisis in the camp, a coastal shantytown of narrow alleyways where rescue workers were struggling to evacuate the dead and wounded and buildings were bombed out and power supplies cut. The international community condemned the violence and voiced support for the Lebanese government's efforts to restore order. Officials voiced fears about the plight of refugees trapped in the camp, where the Red Cross was able to evacuate about 17 people during a brief lull in the fighting. Doctors described seeing bodies strewn on the streets of Nahr al-Bared, which like all refugee camps in Lebanon remain outside the control of the government and in the hands of Palestinian factions.
Officials from the main Palestinian factions -- which deny any links with Fatah al-Islam -- offered to help crush the militiants in talks with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Siniora, whose Western-backed government has been paralysed for months by feuding between opponents of former power broker Damascus and pro-Syrian factions, said the government was determined to enforce law and order across all of Lebanon.
The German presidency of the European Union condemned the bloodshed and called for the disarmament of militias in Lebanon while France voiced solidarity with the government. Saudi Arabia, Lebanon's biggest foreign financier, also said it deplored the violence.
Lebanese authorities have accused Fatah al-Islam, inspired ideologically by Osama bin Laden's network, of working for the Syrian intelligence services, which Damascus has denied. It is headed by Shaker Abssi, said to be linked to former Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US raid in 2006.