2 Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Fighting

Lebanese army soldiers from a navy commandos unit, salutes his colleagues as they replace another unit at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared during clashes with fighters from the Fatah Islam militant group, in the northern city of Tripoli, Saturday June 2, 2007. Lebanon's army suffered more casualties as it pressed ahead with an offensive to uproot al-Qaida-inspired militants, pounding their hideouts in a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery a day after sending tanks and armored vehicles to seize positions in the camp's outer neighborhoods.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (Hussein Malla - AP)

SIDON, Lebanon -- Bomb explosions and machine gunfire rocked a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon Monday after clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants killed two Lebanese soldiers and wounded three, police said.

The fighting began with militants from the group Jund al-Sham firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifle fire on Lebanese troops stationed outside the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

The clashes in southern Lebanon came as Lebanese troops pressed ahead with an offensive against another militant group, Fatah Islam, in another refugee camp, Nahr el-Bared, located in the northern part of the country.

Fierce fighting has engulfed the outskirts of the Nahr el-Bared camp since Friday, when the Lebanese army _ using tanks and artillery _ launched an offensive to drive the Fatah Islam militants from their positions inside the settlement.

But they have faced strong resistance, and the relentless bombardments have threatened to anger Palestinians in the country's other 11 refugee camps, possibly causing violence to spread among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in Lebanon. Armed groups, including Islamic militants, operate with near complete freedom in the camps.

The fighting had erupted on and off since late Sunday at Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest refugee camp in this southern provincial capital, with clashes renewing Monday morning.

Lebanese troops returned fire during the nighttime exchanges on the edge of the camp. There was no official word on militant casualties from the fighting, which sent dozens of families from the camp _ a small town of winding, narrow streets with its own schools, clinics and markets _ fleeing to Sidon.

At Nahr el-Bared, Fatah Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha told The Associated Press by phone Sunday that five militants, including a senior leader, had been killed and seven wounded since Friday.

Also Sunday, a senior Lebanese army officer said that nine Lebanese troops had been killed in the fighting at the camp since Friday, raising the army's death toll to 44 since the standoff there began two weeks ago.

At least 20 civilians and about 60 militants also have been killed, but that does not include casualties in the last three days because relief organizations and journalists have been prohibited from entering the camp.

The Lebanese government repeated its demand for the militants in Nahr el-Bared to surrender, but Fatah Islam's deputy leader defied the call in a telephone interview with the AP.

"This is not only impossible, this is unthinkable. Our blood is cheaper than handing over our weapons and surrendering," said Shehab al-Qaddour, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Hureira.