At least 222 Islamist militants from an al Qaeda-linked group were killed in a 15-week battle at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, according to Lebanese army figures.
The army finally took control of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on Sunday after more than three months of fierce battles, including air, sea and land bombardment against the entrenched Fatah al-Islam militants.
Defence Minister Elias al-Murr also said 202 militants were captured in the battles and an unknown number were buried in mass graves inside the largely destroyed camp.
"This victory uprooted the biggest threat that faced the Lebanese people because Fatah al-Islam was spreading like cancer cells to target each part of the nation," Murr told a news briefing.
"The organisation was aiming to isolate the north from Lebanon to create a terrorist emirate," he said.
At least 42 civilians and 163 soldiers were killed, bringing the death toll to 427 - Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The army's head of intelligence said Fatah al-Islam was directly linked to al Qaeda.
The group has said it has no organisational ties to Osama bin Laden's network and that its aims were to spread its hardline interpretation of Islam among Palestinians and to fight Israel.
However, Brigadier General George Khoury told the same briefing: "All the investigations have confirmed that the Fatah al-Islam organisation is linked to al Qaeda and is in continuous link and contact with it."
"This was revealed through all the investigations that were carried out of captured elements, communications that occurred between al Qaeda cells outside Lebanon and confessions of captured people," he said.
Most of the militants were foreign Arab fighters and some had fought in Iraq.
The army also said it had no information that linked the group to Syrian intelligence - a charge maintained by the anti-Syrian cabinet but denied by Fatah al-Islam and Damascus.
"In this issue specifically, we have no information that indicates this group's link to Syrian intelligence. I want to affirm that the investigation on those captured has not ended ... and these investigations will reveal the truth in this matter," army Chief of Staff Major General Shawki al-Masri said.