NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (AFP) – A Lebanese soldier was killed on Tuesday in clashes with Islamist fighters as the army closed in on the extremists’ positions in a bombed-out refugee camp, a military spokesman said. We have a martyr today. He was killed in the confrontations" with militiamen of the Islamist group Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon, the spokesman who did not wish to be identified told AFP."We are continuing the operation. The army is extending its deployment to new positions in the camp where we are further tightening the noose on the gunmen to force them to surrender," he said.

The battle which broke out on May 20 has now cost the lives of 101 soldiers, out of a total death toll of about 200. Dozens of militants have been killed, but the exact number is unknown as the group cannot be contacted. A military spokesman said three soldiers were killed in Monday’s fighting with the Al-Qaeda-inspired Sunni extremists around Nahr al-Bared.

The army also reported that two Fatah al-Islam members and two fighters of the Syrian-backed Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine General commad

Fatah al-Islam has lost its second in command Abu Hureira in the battle, according to Abu Nabil, the PFLP-GC chief for the camp who was among the four who surrendered, a senior official from his group told AFP.

The fighting erupted when the militants launched a string of attacks on soldiers, killing 27 troops around the camp and in the nearby northern port city of Tripoli

The Islamists, now believed to number a few dozen, on Tuesday fired Katyusha-type rockets, five of which struck fields north of the camp without causing any casualties, police said.

Fatah al-Islam has been firing rockets since last week’s evacuation from the camp of militants of the mainstream Palestinian group Fatah, after apparently seizing their abandoned arsenal.

Fatah and local officials have condemned the rocket fire as acts of desperation.