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AIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon, June 4 (Reuters) - Islamist militants clashed with the Lebanese army near the northern entrance of Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon early on Monday, witnesses said.

The clash, which involved militants from the Sunni Muslim Jund al-Sham group, followed an earlier one that lasted for about two hours on Sunday but which ended after mediation efforts by other Palestinian factions.

Witnesses said they could hear intensive shelling on the edges of the camp as well as heavy exchanges of rifle fire and grenades.

The earlier clash was sparked after the Jund al-Sham militants attacked an army checkpoint. The army later brought in reinforcements and deployed armoured vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns.

Witnesses said two people were wounded in the earlier clash as scores of panicked civilians fled the scene.

The latest clashes came as Lebanese troops were engaged in a two-week-old battle with al Qaeda-inspired militants entrenched in the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon.

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