At least 12 people were killed and 12 others wounded in fierce clashes between the Lebanese troops and Islamist militants in the northern town of Tripoli on Sunday, local Naharnet news website reported.

The clashes broke out late Saturday as an army unit busted the Shahal residential compound in Tripoli's Abu Samra district in search of "wanted terrorists affiliated with Fatah al-Islam," security sources were quoted as saying.

The militants killed three residents -- a police officer, his daughter and his father in law -- in a building in Abu Samra. A soldier also was killed in the clashes that wounded 12 civilians, they added.

Local LBC TV also reported on Sunday morning that at least eight Fatah al-Islam militants were killed in the overnight clashes with the army.

The clashes was the first in Tripoli since outbreak of the confrontation between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam militants in and around Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, 12 km north of Tripoli.

The Lebanese army has been battling with the militants holed up in the Nahr al-Bared camp since May 20. The bloodiest internal violence since the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war has killed more than 150 people.

The Lebanese government lists Fatah al-Islam as a terrorist network aimed at destabilizing Lebanon.

Source: Xinhua