Nahr Al-Bared, Lebanon: Lebanese troops pounded suspected positions of al Qaeda-inspired militants to dislodge them from their hideouts at a Palestinian refugee camp on Saturday but the group vowed it would not surrender. "There is no way we will give up our weapons because it is our pride. We cannot even contemplate surrendering," Abu Salim Taha, spokesman for the Fatah al-Islam militants, told Reuters by telephone from inside Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon.

Amid the constant thud of explosions and crackle of machinegun fire, smouldering fires and plumes of black and white smoke billowed from many of the camp's bombed-out buildings. Soldiers fired barrages of artillery shells and mortar bombs, levelling the camp's two highest buildings and leaving others in smoking ruins.

The fighting, which erupted on May 20, is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. The government says militants triggered the siege by attacking army positions around the camp and Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli. Lebanon's anti-Syrian cabinet say Fatah al-Islam is a Syrian tool, but Damascus denies any links to the group and says its leader, Shaker al-Abssi, is on Syria's wanted list.

Lebanon has been split by a deep seven-month-old political crisis over the opposition's demands for more say in government. The opposition includes Syria's allies, led by Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, a French-made Gazelle army helicopter fired two rockets and machinegun barrages at targets on the camp's coastal side by the Mediterranean, and later two helicopters buzzed over the camp. Lebanese navy gunboats also took part in the shelling. The militant spokesman said a naval force belonging to UNIFIL, a UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, joined the attack, hitting a civilian shelter and inflicting casualties. A UNIFIL spokeswoman denied the peacekeepers played any role in the fighting and said the claim was "utterly unfounded".