Palestinian groups worked on Monday to end the six-week-old battle in a besieged refugee camp of north Lebanon, as aid workers continued to seek access to trapped civilians.

The government of moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad promised Monday to pay full salaries to tens of thousands of civil servants for at least six months, but also warned that employees cooperating with the Islamist Hamas will be cut from the payroll.

The US military on Monday accused Iran for the first time of a direct role in an attack killing American troops in Iraq, saying it helped direct a sophisticated raid in January in which five soldiers died.