4 Lebanese soldiers killed

Four Lebanese soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with al-Qaida-inspired militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said Thursday.

The soldiers were killed by sniper fire and explosions while dismantling booby traps and mines planted by Fatah Islam fighters in the war-ravaged Nahr el-Bared camp, he told The Associated Press. Two died Thursday and two died a day earlier.

The four deaths raised to 128 the number of troops killed since fighting against Fatah Islam militants erupted May 20 in the camp, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The conflict in Nahr el-Bared is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon's Western-backed government has accused Fatah Islam of trying to launch a northern rebellion.

The camp is located on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli.

In addition to the soldier deaths, an undetermined number of militants _ at least 60 _ and more than 20 civilians have died in the fighting, according to Lebanese and U.N. relief officials.

More fierce fighting erupted Thursday as troops pounded the remaining Fatah Islam hideouts in the camp with artillery and tank fire, the state-run National News Agency reported. Three army helicopters flew over Nahr el-Bared, apparently searching for militants, but made no bombing runs, it added.

In response to the army's shelling, Fatah Islam gunmen fired six Katyusha rockets on villages near the camp, causing damage to a power plant but no casualties, the NNA said.

The army has refused to halt its military offensive before the militants surrender, but the gunmen have vowed to fight to the death.