Lebanese troops advanced towards fortified positions of Islamist militants at a Palestinian refugee camp today in what political sources said was the start of a final assault to root out the gunmen.
Moving in under cover of artillery and tank fire, soldiers killed at least three Fatah al-Islam militants at Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, raising the overall death toll from two months of fighting to at least 245, security sources said.
"This is the final phase of the military operation," one Lebanese political source said, adding that he expected the army to capture the whole camp by the end of this week.
The source said there were about 100 people left inside the area controlled by Fatah al-Islam - 60 fighters and 40 civilians who include 24 wives of militants and 16 children.
Palestinian and UN officials had earlier put the number of civilians left in the hundreds. The Lebanese source said some 200 civilians had left the camp in recent days.
Witnesses said soldiers blasted with tanks and artillery the last pockets of the militants who have refused repeated calls to surrender. The fighting, which began on May 20th, is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The conflict has further undermined stability in Lebanon, already crippled by a prolonged political crisis and shaken by bombings that have killed six UN peacekeepers and two anti-Syrian lawmakers in the past eight months.