Fierce fighting rocks Palestinian camp in Lebanon | International | Reuters

Fierce fighting rocks Palestinian camp in Lebanon | International | Reuters: "NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops pounded al Qaeda-inspired militants dug in at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Friday after the group rejected demands to surrender.

Artillery and tanks blasted several areas of the squalid Nahr al-Bared camp, where Fatah al-Islam fighters have shown stiff resistance in three weeks of often ferocious battles.

Camp resident Wissam Badran told Reuters he had helped pull a man, woman and two children from under the rubble after a shell hit a house sheltering 10 civilians. He initially thought they were dead.

'They lost consciousness. We thought they were dead, but thank God, they are alive,' Badran said by telephone from inside Nahr al-Bared. Six others were lightly wounded, he said.

The heavy thud of machinegun fire echoed across the area as fires raged inside and clouds of smoke billowed over the camp, abandoned by most of its 40,000 residents. Witnesses said at least 30 civilians were evacuated by relief workers." Read complete post here.