(Adds additional funding)

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - Lebanon has asked the United States for more military assistance as its armed forces battle Islamist militants, the State Department said on Tuesday.

"Right now we are considering a request for additional assistance coming from the Lebanese government. The Lebanese armed forces are engaged in a tough fight against a brutal group of violent extremists," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

He declined to say how much the Lebanese government had requested but said the request came in the wake of fighting in recent days. Over the past year the United States has provided about $40 million in military assistance to Lebanon.

Lebanon's armed forces have been embroiled in three days of fierce fighting with Islamist militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

At least 22 militants, 32 soldiers and 27 civilians have been killed since the army and the militant Islamist group Fatah al-Islam began fighting on Sunday, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

McCormack said Fatah al-Islam, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, was a "very, very, brutal" group and Lebanon's security forces were doing a valiant job fighting them.

U.S. military funding over the past year has gone into buying small arms, ammunition, vehicles and equipment repair, as well as military training, said McCormack.

He declined to say what the new funding would be used for and how they would help the Lebanese security forces' battle against Islamist militants.

The Bush administration has asked Congress for $280 million in additional military assistance for Lebanon in the latest supplemental funding request which has not yet been passed. The request made this week by Lebanon's government is separate from the supplemental.

AlertNet news is provided by