Lebanese defense head gives militants ultimatum

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr on Wednesday issued an ultimatum to the Fatah Islam militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in the country's north - surrender or face military action. "The army will not negotiate with a group of terrorists and criminals. Their fate is arrest, and if they resist the army, death," he said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television. "There are two choices: The first one, which we prefer, is that they surrender... the other, which we don't like... is military action." The ultimatum came as a daylong truce in the refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared allowed thousands of civilians to flee the fighting between the army and the Islamic militants, which has killed scores since Sunday.