4 Lebanese soldiers die in fighting at camp

Four Lebanese soldiers have been killed in heavy fighting with militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said Thursday.

The soldiers were killed by snipers and while dismantling booby traps and mines planted by Fatah al Islam fighters in the Nahr el Bared camp, he said. Two died Thursday and two died a day earlier.

The deaths brought to 128 the number of troops killed since fighting erupted May 20, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

In addition to the soldiers’ deaths, an undetermined number of militants -- at least 60 -- and more than 20 civilians have died in the fighting, Lebanese and U.N. relief officials say.

The conflict is Lebanon’s worst internal violence since its 1975-90 civil war.