By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer, Jun 4,  EIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, Lebanon – Islamic militants clashed with Lebanese troops at the country’s biggest Palestinian refugee camp Monday, threatening to open a southern battle front that could complicate the army’s effort to defeat al-Qaida-inspired extremists in the north. Two government soldiers and a militant were reported killed in fighting at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, which began when the Jund al-Sham group attacked army outposts late Sunday.

The assault was seen as an attempt by Jund al-Sham to ease military pressure on an allied Islamic group, fatah al islam whose guerrillas have been battered by army attacks since May 20 in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli in northern Lebanon.The bombardment of Nahr el-Bared has angered Palestinians in some of Lebanon’s 11 other refugee camps and there were fears fighting could spread as a senior Fatah Islam commander at Nahr el-Bared vowed Monday to take the battle to Ein el-Hilweh.

Also Monday, a bomb exploded in an empty bus parked in the Christian neighborhood of Bouchrieh east of Beirut, injuring 10 passers-by, officials said. There was no claim of responsibility, but a string of bombings has hit the capital area since the fighting began at Nahr el-Bared. More than 100 people were reported dead in the 16 days of fighting between the army and Fatah Islam, the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. After clashes in Nahr el-Bared early in the day, Lebanese artillery resumed pounding Fatah Islam hideouts, sending up plumes of black smoke as more armored vehicles moved into the camp.

The army escalated its offensive Friday after the militants, who embrace al-Qaida-style militancy and doctrine, rejected government demands to surrender and vowed to fight to the death.

Ten soldiers were killed and 44 wounded at Nahr el-Bared since Friday, including four hurt Monday by a militant mortar shell. Army casualties since the fighting began stood at 45 dead at Nahr el-Bared and two at Ein el-Hilweh. About 60 Fatah Islam militants were reported killed.

At least 20 civilians were dead at Nahr el-Bared, but recent civilian casualties were unknown. On Monday, the International Red Cross evacuated a wounded civilian and 17 women and children who wanted to leave the camp. Most of its 31,000 residents had already fled to a nearby refugee camp.

Fighting erupted at Ein el-Hilweh on Sunday evening when Jund al-Sham militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at nearby army checkpoints. Soldiers fired back with machine guns and cannons. Shooting raged through the night, then quieted Monday morning.

Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and five wounded in the clashes. A Jund al-Sham official was wounded and several houses belonging to members of the group were set on fire by army shells, Lebanese security and Palestinian officials said.

Also killed was a militant from another Islamic group, Asbat al-Ansar, that refused to join the fighting and was trying mediate an end to the confrontation, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The clashes at Ein el-Hilweh, home to 60,000 Palestinians, underscored the complexities facing the army. Like other crowded camps, it became a haven for extremist groups like Jund al-Sham and criminal gangs as troops stayed out of the camps under a nearly 40-year-old arrangement giving Palestinians control of their affairs.

People who fled the shooting Sunday night at Ein el-Hilweh returned briefly during Monday’s lull to pick up some belongings. Militiamen loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction stood on the camp’s main street, watching militant gunmen on side streets.

Secular factions at Ein el-Hilweh complained that Islamic groups were shielding the militants, and residents worried fighting would resume.

"There’s horror every day here — bombs, shootings," said Suzanne Ajawi, 26, who is in her ninth month of pregnancy. She carried a plastic bag of baby clothes and milk.

Following a Cabinet meeting, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said there was a "clear link" between the violence in Ein el-Hilweh and Nahr el-Bared.

Fatah Islam’s deputy leader, Abu Hureira, said earlier that Jund al-Sham staged attacks on its own initiative, but claimed that Fatah Islam also had members in Ein el-Hilweh and would open an offensive in the camp.

"Soon there will be an official statement in the name of Fatah Islam partisans, and we will start to see an expansion (of the fighting in the north), and there will be a similar military situation there" in Ein el-Hilweh," Abu Hureira said by phone from his hideout in Nahr el-Bared.