Absi, has been linked to the former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq and is accused in the 2002 assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan. He moved into Nahr el-Bared refugee camp last fall after he reportedly was expelled from Syria, where he was in custody.

Since then, he is believed to have recruited about 100 fighters, including militants from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab countries, and he has said he follows the ideology of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Among the militants killed in the fighting Sunday was a man suspected in a plot to bomb trains in Germany last year, according to Lebanese security officials.

Lebanese security officials accuse Syria of backing Fatah el-Islam as a tool to disrupt the country, charges that are denied by Damascus, which controlled Lebanon until 2005 when its troops were forced to withdraw from the country following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Naharnet has reported that the second man at Fatah al -Islam has also been wounded. He is the son-in-law of Absi . He was also reportedly wounded during the clashes with Lebanese troops in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.

Sources: Ya Libnan , Naharnet