Lebanese troops advance into camp

The Lebanese army refuses to halt unless the militants surrender fully

The Lebanese army has said its troops have moved deeper into a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli to try to oust Islamist fighters remaining there.

Eight militants from the Fatah al-Islam group were killed in Sunday's offensive on the Nahr al-Bared camp, the state-run National News Agency said.

Later, army commander Gen Michel Suleiman told his troops that a final assault on the camp was "imminent".

More than 200 people have been killed since clashes broke out two months ago.

Much of the camp, which was previously home to some 30,000 people, has also been destroyed in Lebanon's worst internal conflict since the end of the civil war in 1990.

'Final assault'

After a night of relative calm, the Lebanese army pounded Fatah al-Islam's remaining positions with artillery, tank fire and rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday.

Later, an army commando unit stormed the Amqa area of the Nahr al-Bared, killing eight militants, the NNA reported.

One soldier was killed in clashes at the camp on Saturday.

The commander of the Lebanese army, Gen Michel Suleiman, vowed to end the battle soon.

"The final assault in Nahr el-Bared is imminent," he told his troops.

On Friday, the army said the militants controlled 22,500 sq m (242,000 sq ft) of the camp, half the area they had controlled the week before.