The Lebanese army took full control today of a Palestinian camp where it has been battling Islamist militants for more than three months.
A security source said Lebanese troops killed at least 31 militants who tried to flee a Palestinian refugee camp in battles today.
Eleven more fighters from the Fatah al-Islam group were captured when they attempted to break out of the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon.
"The battle is over. The Lebanese army has seized the last positions of Fatah al-Islam in the camp," a Lebanonese spokesman said, in reference to the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon.
"Most of the terrorists were killed today the others have been captured. A few might have escaped but the army is hunting them down," he added.
The army had estimated that 35 active fighters remained in the camp before today, but it was unclear whether all had tried to flee, the security source said. There were also a number of wounded militants still inside, he added.
The fighting has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war, killing more than 300 people.
Five soldiers were also killed today, raising the army death toll to 157. At least 131 militants and 42 civilians have been killed.
One security source suggested the fighting might be over within 24 hours but another cautioned that the army did not know exactly how many fighters remained in the camp, where buildings have been booby-trapped by the militants.
An army statement said the militants made their move in the early hours of the morning. They "attacked army positions in a desperate attempt to flee", the statement said, urging citizens to contact the army if they encountered suspect individuals.
At least three gunmen from outside the camp had also attacked an army position in order to help the fighters escape, security sources said.
Security forces patrolled the area, searching orchards and fields, while helicopters hovered overhead in a hunt for any militants who had managed to escape from the camp on the Mediterranean coast. Naval boats patrolled the sea.
Most of the camp's 40,000 residents fled to a nearby Palestinian refugee camp in the early days of the fighting, which erupted on May 20th when the army says Fatah al-Islam attacked its positions near the camp and the northern city of Tripoli.
Fatah al-Islam split from a Syrian-backed Palestinian faction last year. It says it shares al Qaeda's ideology but has no organisational ties to the network. The hardline Sunni Islamist group includes Lebanese, Saudi and Syrian fighters.
The fate of Shaker al-Abssi, the Palestinian leader of the group, was unclear.
The militants have put up fierce resistance, managing to inflict casualties on the army despite aerial and artillery bombardment. Their wives and children were evacuated from the camp on August 24th.