Lebanese soldiers are making "significant" gains in their battle against al-Qaeda-inspired fighters holeed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, security officials said Tuesday.
But a senior military official, cited by the AP, said four troops died in fighting Monday. The body of a missing soldier also has been found, he conveyed.
The latest deaths raised to 103 the army's death toll since the fighting broke on May 20. Dozens of militants have been killed, but the exact number is unknown.
The security officials reported "significant progress" by the troops, saying that militants from the Fatah Islam group were now encircled in an area thought to be no bigger than 500 square yards.
Witnesses said the army was using armored bulldozers to push its way into the area where militants are thought to be still holed up. The Lebanese military reported that two Fatah al-Islam members and two fighters of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) surrendered on Monday. Among them was Abu Nabil, PFLP-GC's Nahr al-Bared commander.
NNA said Abu Hureira, Fatah al-Islam second in command, was killed during the battles with the army.
