Lull in attacks in Lebanon lets Palestinians flee camp

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - People flooded out of a besieged Palestinian refugee camp last night, waving white flags and telling of bodies lying in the streets and inside wrecked houses after three days of fighting between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants.

Earlier in the day, a relief convoy came under fire when a cease-fire abruptly shattered as U.N. workers tried to deliver food and water to residents. A U.N. official said some who approached the convoy seeking supplies were wounded or killed, but he did not have exact figures.

The nighttime lull that allowed the escape did not appear to be part of an organized truce - and there was no sign the battle was over. The government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said it was determined to uproot Fatah al Islam, which took up residence in the camp late last year.

There was no immediate indication of whether the flight of civilians would give the government a freer hand in bombarding militants holed up in the camp. The army, which is barred from entering the camp under a 1969 agreement with Palestinian groups, has said its troops were trying to target only militant positions.

Despite broadcast images of Arab troops battering a Palestinian community, Lebanon's government has received widespread support at home and from Arab countries, some of which have even provided weapons to help the siege.

The military's attack at the camp also has raised fears the fighting could destabilize Lebanon's uneasy balance among its many religious sects and factions. Saniora's Western-backed government already faces a domestic political crisis, with the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah militant group campaigning for its removal.

But so far, Saniora's rivals have supported the assault. The Shiite Muslims of Hezbollah deeply oppose Sunni militant groups like Fatah al Islam, and the movement issued a statement stressing the military's duty to safeguard the country.

Saniora's top rival, pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, also said yesterday that Fatah al Islam must be neutralized. He called on other Palestinian factions to hand over Fatah al Islam militants.

The Bush administration repeated its support for Saniora, a close U.S. ally. It also hinted that it suspected a Syrian role in the turmoil.

Twenty-nine soldiers and at least 20 militants had been killed since the battle began Sunday in the heaviest internal fighting in Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war. But the number of civilian casualties remained unknown because relief workers were not able to get inside the camp.

When fighting quieted after sunset, thousands of people took the chance to escape. They streamed out of Nahr el-Bared's western gate on foot and in packed vehicles. Many waved white towels or white plastic bags from the windows as they passed Lebanese soldiers encircling the camp.

"The smell of corpses was everywhere. There was no food, water or electricity, and they were shooting at us," Dania Mahmoud Kassem, a 21-year-old university student, said of the last three days in the camp, which is on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli.

Another refugee, Ibrahim Issa Dawoud, said he, his wife and six children had taken refuge in a mosque for three days, living off potato chips while Lebanese army tanks and artillery fired at militants armed with mortars and automatic weapons.