BEIRUT, Lebanon – Four Lebanese soldiers were killed as Lebanese troops battled militants Wednesday inside a northern Palestinian refugee camp, a senior military official said. A teenager was later killed by a militant rocket.

In response to the Lebanese army’s bombardment in the Nahr el-Bared camp, Fatah Islam militants fired 18 more Katyusha rockets Wednesday on nearby villages, killing the teenager, injuring a young girl and damaging homes, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the army was making advances in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, which has been the scene of heavy clashes with Fatah Islam militants for the past two months.

“The army is expanding its area of control and is closing in on remaining militants,” he told The Associated Press.

The four soldiers were killed overnight, he said, raising to 107 the army’s fatalities since fighting broke out nearly two months ago in the Palestinian camp near the northern port of Tripoli.

The official also said the military was in the “final stages of having full control” of the main road separating the new camp from the “old camp” _ densely populated neighborhoods where most of the Palestinian refugees lived and where most of remaining fighters were thought to be still barricaded.

Occasional gunfire and the impact of rocket-propelled grenades could be heard from inside the camp Wednesday, suggesting that the militants continued to resist.

The conflict with Fatah Islam militants, which erupted May 20, is Lebanon’s worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. At least 60 militants and more than 20 civilians have been killed in the fighting, according to the Lebanese government and U.N. relief officials.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)