Militants shot dead a Lebanese soldier and one of their booby traps killed three other soldiers at a Palestinian refugee camp today, drawing fierce artillery shelling from the army.
Fatah al-Islam snipers gunned down the soldier and wounded three others at Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, scene of five weeks of battles.
Shortly afterwards a booby-trap blast killed three more soldiers and wounded one, security sources said. The soldiers had been on a demining mission.
The deaths were the first military fatalities since the army declared an end to major combat on Thursday and brought to 80 the number of troops killed in the fighting.
Heavy 155 mm artillery shells slammed into the heart of the camp where the militants had deployed after retreating from outlying positions captured by the troops. Militants responded with small arms fire and grenades, security sources said.
Lebanon's defence minister claimed victory on Thursday in the fighting against Fatah al-Islam in which 176 people were killed, including at least 60 militants and 36 civilians. He said the army would not end the siege of the camp until the militants surrendered.
Security forces are barred from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps by a 1969 Arab agreement.
The battle for Nahr al-Bared is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war.
Palestinian mediators held talks on Friday with Fatah al-Islam at the heavily damaged camp, which once housed about 40,000 people. The mediators were set for more talks over the weekend to try to end the standoff.
The army says Fatah al-Islam started the conflict on May 20 by attacking its posts. The group, which includes fighters from across the Arab world, says it had acted in self-defence.
Fatah al-Islam has said it has no organisational ties to Osama bin Laden's network but shares its militant ideology.