Army heavily bombards refugee camp, targets militants' underground shelters

(25 Jul 2007) SHOTLIST 1. Wide of shelling on camp UPSOUND: shelling 2. Lebanese Army armoured personnel vehicle inside camp 3. Smoke rising over destroyed building 4. Wide of shelling and smoke plumes rising UPSOUND: shelling 5. Various of smoke rising over of destroyed buildings UPSOUND: shelling 6. Lebanese army vehicle driving into camp, zoom out to wide of camp UPSOUND: shelling 7. Various of shelling UPSOUND: shelling 8. Army vehicle carrying heavy machine gun driving toward camp entrance 9. Military ambulance with red cross flag driving into camp 10. Various of shelling STORYLINE Lebanese army troops unleashed barrages of artillery and tank shells on Wednesday targeting Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, witnesses and security officials said. In some of the heaviest bombardment of Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in weeks, army cannons fired shells at a rate of 8 to 10 every minute at suspected Fatah Islam positions inside the camp. Pictures filmed by an AP Television crew showed thick smoke rising over the destroyed buildings in the camp as sounds of heavy shelling filled the air. The shelling could be heard in the nearby port city of Tripoli for several hours before it subsided around mid morning, witnesses said. Lebanese army vehicles, including a military ambulance could been seen driving through the camp streets. The army action, which began at dawn on Wednesday, follows days of low intensity fighting during which soldiers continued to push their way deeper into the camp, seizing weapons and other military equipment from tunnels dug by the militants. A senior military official said on Wednesday that two soldiers were killed in military operations a day earlier, raising to 118 the number of troops killed since fighting with the militants broke out in the camp on 20 May. Security officials said the army shelling on Wednesday mainly targeted the Saasaa neighbourhood of the camp, where remaining militants are thought to be hiding in underground shelters and bunkers. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...