Battles continue at Lebanon camp

Much of the Nahr al-Bared camp has been reduced to rubble

The Lebanese army has continued shelling Islamist militants cornered in a Palestinian refugee camp.

At least 110 Lebanese soldiers have now died in the fighting with the Fatal al-Islam group in the last two months.

Officials said a soldier was killed in fighting on Wednesday and the body of another soldier killed earlier was found under rubble in the camp.

The fighting at the Nahr al-Bared camp is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the end of the civil war in 1990.

Much of the camp, in northern Lebanon, has been reduced to rubble by shelling from artillery and tanks.

Residents flee

In between the bombardments, soldiers have moved against an unknown number of militants left in a few remaining pockets of resistance.

The militants have left many buildings booby-trapped with bombs as they retreat deeper into the camp.

Lebanon's refugee crisis Profile: Fatah al-Islam

At least 70 militants are believed to have been killed.

Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha told al-Jazeera television that his group was ready to hold peace talks with the army.

But he is also quoted by Diyar newspaper as saying that Fatah al-Islam would launch a wave of suicide bombers if the army did not stop its attacks on the group.

Almost all the residents of the camp, which was home to about 30,000 people, have fled their homes, but dozens of civilians are feared to have been killed.

The fighting at the camp broke out in May after security forces raided a building in nearby Tripoli to arrest suspects in a bank robbery.

Fatah al-Islam militants then attacked army posts at the entrances to the camp.

The Lebanese army then began bombarding the camp and advancing against strongholds of militants holed up inside.