BEIRUT, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Lebanon's defence minister said on Tuesday the army killed at least 222 al Qaeda-inspired militants in a 15-week battle at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The army finally took control of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on Sunday after more than three months of fierce battles, including air, sea and land bombardment against the entrenched Fatah al-Islam militants. Defence Minister Elias al-Murr also said 202 militants were captured in the battles while an unknown number were buried in mass graves inside the largely destroyed camp. "This victory uprooted the biggest threat that faced the Lebanese people because Fatah al-Islam was spreading like cancer cells to target each part of the nation," Murr told a news briefing. "The organisation was aiming to isolate the north from Lebanon to create a terrorist emirate," he said. At least 42 civilians and 163 soldiers died, bringing the death toll to more than 400 - Lebanon's worst internal violence since the civil war ended 17 years ago. Although Fatah al-Islam has no organisational ties to al-Qaeda, it shares the ideology to Osama bin Laden's network. Most of the militants were foreign Arab fighters and some had fought in Iraq.
