BEIRUT (Thomson Financial) - A Lebanese military prosecutor today laid terrorism charges against 11 militants from the Fatah al-Islam group locked in a deadly standoff with the army at a Palestinian refugee camp.
The proceedings brought to 31 the number of militiamen from the Al-Qaeda inspired Sunni extremist group charged with committing 'acts of terrorism' since fighting first broke out on May 20.
If convicted, they could face the death sentence.
The accused, who are all in custody, include 28 Lebanese, one Lebanese-Syrian, one Syrian and one Palestinian, judicial sources said.
The military prosecutor has also launched proceedings in absentia against a Lebanese national in custody in Saudi Arabia on the same charges.
Some of the militants were detained while trying to flee the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon where the Islamist group has been under army siege since May 20.
Fatah al-Islam fighters have killed 44 Lebanese soldiers since the clashes erupted at the camp and the nearby Mediterranean port city of Tripoli.
The accused are alleged to have 'formed armed groups to attack civilians, the authority of the state and its civil and military institutions, and to have carried out terrorist actions which killed or injured military personnel and civilians,' a judicial source.
Fatah al-Islam is a shadowy Sunni Muslim extremist group which first officially appeared in Lebanon in November. It is not a Palestinian group, although it has established its base in Nahr al-Bared.
Most of its members are Islamists of various Arab nationalities who are ideologically close to the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
The government, pushing for a peaceful end to the standoff, has insisted the group hand over fighters to stand trial over attacks against its armed forces during the bloodiest internal fighting in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The group has vowed no surrender, although the mainstream Palestinian faction Fatah has said several members have turned in themselves and their weapons.
Source : www.forbes.com
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