Lebanese army helicopters and artillery fired on Friday at Islamist fighters who had retreated into the heart of a Palestinian refugee camp after troops captured all their outlying positions.
But Nahr al-Bared camp was generally calm a day after the army claimed victory in 33 days of fierce fighting against al Qaeda-inspired militants in which 172 people were killed.
Gazelle helicopter gunships fired machineguns and four shells hit the camp in the afternoon amid scattered gunfire. It was not clear if Fatah al-Islam militants were shooting back. The defence minister has sworn to besiege the camp until they surrender, but says major military operations are over. The battle for Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon was the country's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war.
Smoke curled from shell-shattered buildings. Soldiers set off explosions as they cleared booby traps and mines. Palestinian mediators entered the camp, which before the fighting was home to about 40,000 people, and held two hours of talks with Fatah al-Islam's senior official Shahine Shahine.
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