The Lebanese government offered late Monday a truce in its confrontation with Islamists in north Lebanon that cost 58 lives, as a bomb exploded in Beirut for the second straight night.
President George W. Bush said on Monday that extremists trying to topple Lebanon's government "need to be reined in."
Nahr al-Bared outside Lebanon's second city of Tripoli, where fighting raged for a second day Monday, is one of a dozen Palestinian refugee camps around the country that have become breeding grounds for extremism.
Questions and answers about the outbreak of fighting in Lebanon:
A ceasefire to end battles between Lebanese troops and al Qaeda-inspired militants in northern Lebanon was agreed on Monday, the representative of a Palestinian faction in Lebanon told Reuters.
Lebanon's army opened fire with tanks and artillery on a refugee camp, in its battle with a militia run by a self-professed disciple of Osama bin Laden. Lebanon's police commander scoffs at the al Qaeda link. "This is imitation al Qaeda."
Images from Tripoli in Lebanon, following the country's worst day of violence for 17 years.
Lebanese troops battled Islamist extremists for a second day on Monday after the deadliest fighting since the civil war left 46 people dead and renewed fears about Lebanon's stability.
Islamic militancy has been growing among the Sunni Arabs of Lebanon, and al-Qaida is a new element in the radical mix, security sources say.
Shells rain down on a sprawling Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.