DUBAI, May 23 (Reuters) - Amnesty International on Wednesday criticised the Lebanese army's use of heavy weapons in attempts to take control of a Palestinian refugee camp in fighting with Islamist militants inspired by al Qaeda.

"Amnesty International is particularly concerned about the army's use of artillery and other heavy weapons, including tank fire, against heavily populated areas," the London-based group said in a statement sent to Reuters.

"Amnesty International is greatly concerned about the death of civilians as a result of the fighting in the Nahr al-Bared camp between heavily armed fighters of Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army," it added.

The Lebanese army had been battling the Fatah al-Islam group at the camp since Sunday in Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The Red Cross has said that a third of the camp's 40,000 residents had fled since the fighting began on Sunday.

At least 32 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in the fighting. A Lebanese Defence Ministry source said that up to 60 militants have died in the camp and in the nearby city of Tripoli. Camp residents have spoken of dozens of civilians dead.

Amnesty also said that Fatah al-Islam should ensure that civilians are not "unnecessarily exposed to the fighting".

Amnesty International said humanitarian organisations must be allowed immediate and unhindered access inside the camp and civilians wishing to leave must be evacuated.

It expressed concern that the clashes could spread to other Palestinian refugee camps or rekindle internal strife in Lebanon.

Nahr al-Bared is one of 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon, where a total of 400,000 Palestinian refugees live.

Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni Islamist militant group led by a Palestinian, emerged in 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.

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