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.

TRIPOLI, June 2nd  Lebanon - A missile-firing helicopter joined the Lebanese army offensive against al-Qaida-inspired militants on Saturday, the second day of a push against Islamic fighters vowing a fight to the death inside a Palestinian refugee camp. Army tanks shelled militant hideouts in the Nahr el-Bared camp by this northern port city, blasting upper floors of buildings where the militants placed snipers. A Lebanese air force helicopter fired two missiles and strafed militant positions in the first use of airpower since fighting began with the Fatah Islam group on May 20. The air attack was an apparent attempt to block an escape route to the Mediterranean Sea.Four soldiers were killed and 10 wounded Saturday in the offensive aimed at uprooting al-Qaida-inspired gunmen barricaded in the refugee camp.

The casualties raised the army's deaths to 38 in two weeks. At least 20 civilians and about 60 militants were killed by Friday, but casualties in the camp in the last two days were unknown because relief organizations were banned from entering.Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said about 250 members of Fatah Islam were still inside the camp. He promised Palestinians who fled Nahr el-Bared that they will be able to return and the camp will be rebuilt. The militants "have no choice but to surrender," Saniora told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, adding that the government would "assure this group justice and a fair trial."There were signs that Palestinians trapped inside the camp were trying to squeeze the militants out.Abu Jaber, an official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine