UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
17:36 Mecca time, 14:36 GMT
 
News Middle East
Fatah al-Islam seeks Lebanon truce
Most of Nahr al-Bared's 31,000 residents left the camp soon after the fighting started [AFP]
Fatah al-Islam fighters battling the Lebanese army in a refugee camp have asked for a ceasefire to allow their families and remaining civilians to be evacuated.
 
The army, which continued to fire artillery shells into Nahr al-Bared on Wednesday, said it would not agree to a formal truce, but would halt the bombardment to allow people to leave.
Zheina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent outside the Palestinian camp near Tripoli in northern Lebanon, said on Wednesday: "The Lebanese army is saying it will not accept a ceasefire but it will allow the family members to leave.
 
"It is estimated that there are around 60 family members inside."
However, Khodr said that any evacuation had been delayed because the Palestinian clerics attempting to broker a deal between the army and Fatah al-Islam had lost contact with the group's representatives.
 
Noose tightening
 
"The army have been shelling the camp since the early hours of the morning.
 
"It is tightening its noose around the camp ... there are some reports that food and water are running out," she reported.
 
Earlier, Mohammed Hajj, a spokesman for the clerics, said that a member of Fatah al-Islam had approached him overnight to arrange a ceasefire.

"Abu Salim Taha contacted us and asked for the civilians, meaning the Fatah al-Islam families, to be evacuated and for the army command to arrange this," Hajj said.

"We contacted the army which welcomed the offer and gave assurances for the safety of the civilians."

Negotiations

Hajj said Fatah al-Islam was counting the number of civilians that needed to be taken out so it could inform officials.

A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said she was aware of the ongoing negotiations, but no formal request had been made to the agency for assistance.

Most of the camp's 31,000 residents left soon after the fighting began on May 20.

The fighting has left at least 200 people dead, including 141 soldiers, in the deadliest internal unrest since the country's 1975-1990 civil war.

Sniper fire from inside the camp killed a pregnant Lebanese woman and a Lebanese soldier on Tuesday, the National News Agency said.
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
 
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