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(CNN) -- Lebanese troops seized control of a top Islamist militia leader's home in northern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanese military officials said.
Clashes between militants and Lebanese troops at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp have left scores dead.
The seized home belongs to Abu Hureira, one of the leaders of Fatah al-Islam -- an extremist group believed to have links to the al Qaeda terrorist network.
Members of the group have been holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp outside the northern city of Tripoli for more than three months.
Meanwhile, smoke darkened the sky above the the bombed-out Nahr el-Bared camp Saturday, as part of ongoing efforts to purge militants entrenched inside.
Dozens of Lebanese troops have been killed trying to uproot the militants since the beginning of the fighting -- the country's worst internal violence since the end of the country's civil war in 1990.
The operation comes three days after -- in a landmark move -- the chief of U.S. forces in the Middle East landed in the country of Lebanon for talks with the country's prime minister and senior military officers.
Adm. William Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Lebanese military chiefs to offer more counterterrorism training for Lebanon's military, among other objectives, U.S. military officials told CNN.
The Bush administration has supplied the Lebanese army with ammunition, body armor and night-vision goggles during its three-month battle with Fatah al-Islam militants.
The clashes have killed scores of Lebanese soldiers and militants -- many of whom are still holed up inside despite appeals for their surrender. E-mail to a friend 
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