"This information was obtained by questioning arrested Fatah al-Islam members" detained by the Lebanese military since the outbreak of fighting on May 20, An-Nahar said without identifying its sources.

No officials were immediately available to comment on the report.

The paper also said that explosives seized in the country's second largest city Tripoli, south of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp where militants were being besieged by the army for the 15th day, came from Syria.

"Fatah al-Islam planned to attack a large hotel in the capital using four suicide truck bombs at the same time as launching suicide attacks on embassies in east and west Beirut," the paper said.

An-Nahar also said the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist group "planned to launch attacks on the Shekka tunnel linking Beirut to Tripoli with the aim of cutting off the north and proclaiming an Islamic state there."

It said the attacks would be "a Lebanese September 11," in reference to the 2001 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda.

On May 22 Fatah al-Islam denied planting two bombs that rocked Beirut on consecutive nights after the siege began, killing a woman and wounding a total of 20 people.

The group had earlier denied charges by the authorities that it carried out bus bombings in a Christian mountain village in February that left three people dead.

Fatah al-Islam has also denied any links to al-Qaeda, although it has admitted having ideological ties with the worldwide terror movement headed by Osama bin Laden.