Fatah al-Islam behind minister's murder

Lebanese investigators have concluded that al Qaeda-inspired militants killed a Christian Lebanese minister in 2006, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Saturday.

An-Nahar daily said results of the investigation into the Nov. 21 assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel would be made public soon and would show proof against Fatah al-Islam militants.

Lebanese investigators found a car suspected of being used in Gemayel's murder last month during a crackdown against militants across the north, security sources have said. Lebanese sources claim Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command played a role in the murder.

Gemayel was assassinated while driving in a Christian suburb of Beirut. His death was part of a string of other assassinations that are being investigated by a UN commission initially established to investigate

the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Lebanon's ruling anti-Syrian coalition, including Gemayel's father, former President Amin Gemayel, have

implied Syria was behind the assassinations - a charge Syria denies.

Lebanese government officials also accuse Syria of backing Fatah al-Islam to stir up trouble in Lebanon. Damascus denies the claim, saying it considers Fatah al-Islam a dangerous terrorist organization.

The group made headlines in May and June of this year, during a 33-day fight against the Lebanese military in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, located near the northern town of Tripoli. 

Resulting in mass casualties and the flight of many Palestinian refugees, the clashes were described as the worst internal fighting since the Lebanese civil war, 17 years ago.  At the end of the fighting in late June, Lebanese armed forces claimed they had "crushed those terrorists." 

AP contributed to this report