Fighting seems to have resumed between Islamist militants and besieged by the Lebanese army in the Palestinian refugee camp.

This is despite an earlier ceasefire declared by the militants.

Six lorries went into the camp during a lull, carrying food, water, medical supplies and an electricity generator.

Some reports say there were casualties.

The head of a hospital in a nearby Palestinian refugee camp, Dr Youssef Asaad, told the BBC said ambulances had also been able to take 12 wounded civilians to hospitals outside the camp.

He appealed to the Lebanese army and the militants to give medical organizations the chance to evacuate more of the wounded.

About 31,000 civilians are trapped in the camp in deteriorating conditions. Dozens have been killed since Sunday.

Doctors in the camp had been calling for a ceasefire because of the dead and wounded lying on the streets. Electricity supplies have been cut and there is limited water.

'Open-ended' truce

Speaking earlier on Tuesday after another morning of intense clashes between his group and Lebanese troops, Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim said it was willing to abide by a truce.

"We are giving a chance for calm and a ceasefire from 1430," he told Reuters. "It is open-ended if the army commits to it as well."

The Lebanese military said it would not commit to a formal ceasefire, but reiterated that its forces would not be the first to open fire.

"We only return fire when we are fired upon. If there is no firing at us, we will not return fire," a military source said.

On Monday evening, Lebanon's Cabinet authorized the army to step up its efforts and "end the terrorist phenomenon that is alien to the values and nature of the Palestinian people".

There are fears the violence may spread. On Monday night a bomb exploded in a mainly Sunni area of the capital, Beirut, injuring at least six people.

On Sunday a 63-year-old woman was killed by a blast in a Christian district of Beirut.

Syrian denial

Overnight, US President George W Bush said the Islamists needed to be stopped.

"Extremists that are trying to topple that young democracy need to be reined in," he said.

Lebanese Trade Minister Sami Haddad told the BBC his government suspected Syria of masterminding the violence.

"These people are trying to destabilize a democratically elected government," he said.

"We are faced with international terrorism that has attacked Europe, the Middle East and Arab countries before."

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, has denied his country has any link to the group, and said some of them had been in jail in Syria for their support for al-Qaeda.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, is meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Beirut to discuss the fighting - the bloodiest internal conflict in Lebanon since the civil war ended 17 years ago.

The clashes erupted when security forces tried to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. Militants from Fatah al-Islam, a radical Palestinian splinter group, then attacked army posts at the entrances to the camp.

Lebanon is home to more than 350,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom fled or left their homes when Israel was created in 1948.

Source: BBC