Twenty three Lebanese soldiers died on Sunday in a deadly fighting between the army and militants, the Lebanese army here confirmed to Xinhua.

Local Arabia TV reported that a total of 48 people, that is, 23 soldiers and 15 militants from the radical Palestinian faction of Fatah al-Islam, along with 10 civilians had been killed during the day's fighting, but the army officer only confirmed the death toll of the soldiers to Xinhua in a telephone interview.

The fighting started at dawn after security forces raided homes in the Nahr el-Bared refugee in northern Tripoli to arrest suspects in a bank robbery happened one day ago during which four masked gunman robbed a bank in the northern town of Amioun and made off with 125,000 U.S. dollars in cash.

Some 30,000 displaced Palestinians live at the camp, which the military is banned from entering under a 38-year-old deal.

Militants from the faction Fatah al-Islam then attacked army posts at the refugee camp, where they are based. The fighting, which involved tank and grenade fire, also injured some civilians, including children, who were now trapped inside the camp, the TV station reported.

The Nahr el-Bared camp has been under scrutiny since two bus bombings in a Christian area in northern of Beirut in February. Police had arrested a number of members of the Islamic faction based in the camp in connection with the twin bus bombings, which killed and wounded at least 20 people.

Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim told Al-Jazeera television that the group was only defending itself.