Heavy fighting and shelling rocked the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el Bared outside the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli throughout the day on Friday.

The Lebanese army directed artillery and tank fire at what it said were positions of the militant Fatah al-Islam group that is holed up inside the camp. Machine gun fire was also heard from inside Nahr el-Bared as the army moved tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other military equipment in the vicinity of the camp.