People are trying to leave the camp taking advantage of a third attempt at a ceasefire between militant Palestinian factions and the Lebanese Army, which came into effect Tuesday. Vehicles filled with men, women and children are mainly going to another camp near Tripoli.
Since last night and early Wednesday morning, about 10,000 refugees have left the camp, the head of the camp emergencies committee said. "Some 25,000-30,000 people are still in Nahr al-Bared," Jamil al-Jabbawi told Al Jazeera. Other sources said half of the camp inhabitants had left.
At least 80 people have been killed since early Sunday, when fighting between units of the Lebanese Army and members of Fatah al-Islam broke out in the neighboring city of Tripoli.
Lebanese troops surrounded the remaining militants in the northeast of the camp and demanded that civilians left the area to avoid being injured.
On Monday, Lebanon's government, infuriated by militant attacks that have seen at least 32 soldiers killed in three days of fighting, ordered the Army to step up its sweeping operation in the camp.
It is unclear how long the truce between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al Islam militants will last, although the Lebanese government backed by the U.S. and a number of Arab countries has indicated that it has lost patience with the Islamists.
"We must put an end to the phenomenon of terrorism," Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said following a Cabinet Monday meeting.
Many experts consider members of the radical Sunni Fatah al-Islam group to be followers of the global al-Qaeda network.
The group, whose leader Shaker al-Absi has been accused of direct ties with al-Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for two bombings in Beirut Sunday and Monday, which reportedly killed one woman and injured at least 17 people.
Lebanese authorities are also concerned about the possibility that fighting could spread to other Palestinian refugee camps in the country. There are 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon that are home to around 400,000 people.
Moscow condemned the terrorist acts in Lebanon and urged the Lebanese leadership to prevent a further escalation of violence in a statement Tuesday.
"We resolutely condemn these acts of terrorism and hope that they will meet with an appropriate response," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told a news conference in Moscow.
"We also hope that the government of Lebanon and leading political forces in the country will deal with the current situation rationally, and will not allow it to deteriorate even further," the Russian diplomat said.
