BEIRUT, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The chief of Fatah al-Islam, Shaker Abssi, had been killed by Lebanese army during the fighting at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, the official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday.

    The report said that Abssi, founder of the group, had been killed along with five gunmen by Lebanese army tank fire that targeted a training sector in the seaside camp.

Lebanese soldiers flash victory signs as they patrol an area adjacent to the besieged Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. Lebanese soldiers hunted down fugitive militants after crushing an Islamist group in fierce fighting that ended a 15-week standoff at a battered Palestinian refugee camp. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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    The troops, during a recent combing operation in the camp, called on the entrenched gunmen to give up, but they responded with a volley of gunfire, said the report, adding that the soldiers attacked back with tank fire that killed Abssi and the other gunmen.

    Meanwhile, the local Naharnet news website quoted a source at the hospital as saying that Abssi's wife identified his corpse at the public hospital in the northern town of Tripoli Monday.

    However, DNA tests are underway and results will be announced in no more than 48 hours, the source added, stressing that "this is a judicial procedure."

Lebanese youths celebrate outside Nahr al-Bared. Lebanese soldiers hunted down fugitive militants after crushing an Islamist group in fierce fighting that ended a 15-week standoff at a battered Palestinian refugee camp. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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    Earlier on Sunday, the Lebanese army totally took control of Nahr al-Bared after fighting the Fatah al-Islam militants holed up there for over three months.

    It was the bloodiest internal violence since the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war, and up to 300 people including more than 150 army soldiers were killed during the fighting.

    Army commander: victory against terrorists belongs to all Lebanese

    BEIRUT, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman said Monday that the victory in defeating the Fatah al-Islam terrorists "belongs to the whole Lebanese people," local Naharnet news website reported.

    The victory, achieved Sunday, is a "gift to the spirits of the army and resistance martyrs," Suleiman was quoted as saying.

    Islamist death toll in Lebanon's camp fighting rises to 38

    BEIRUT, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese army on Monday found six more bodies of Fatah al-Islam members, bringing to 38 the total number of killed militants during Sunday's camp fighting, local Naharnet news website reported.

    The bodies were found deserted in the northern Lebanese refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, said the report, adding that the army also captured four militants nearby, raising to 24 the number of militants captured since Sunday.