FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2012 file photo, a man runs between debris after a mortar shell hit a street killing several people in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria. 2012 was a year of storms, of raging winds and rising waters, but also broader turbulence that strained our moorings. Old enmities and grievances resurfaced in the Middle East, clouding the legacy of the 2011 Arab spring. And the number of dead in the Syrian civil war passed 40,000. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras, File)
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FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2012 file photo, a man runs between debris after a mortar shell hit a street killing several people in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria. 2012 was a year of storms, of raging winds and rising waters, but also broader turbulence that strained our moorings. Old enmities and grievances resurfaced in the Middle East, clouding the legacy of the 2011 Arab spring. And the number of dead in the Syrian civil war passed 40,000. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras, File)
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Lebanese Army soldiers deploy after clashes in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Security officials said shooting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim gunmen in southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded at least three. The clashes between followers of hardline Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir and members of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah broke out after Shiite religious banners were raised in the port city of Sidon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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A wounded man who suffered a bullet wound is assisted by others in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Security officials said shooting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim gunmen in southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded at least three. The clashes between followers of hardline Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir and members of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah broke out after Shiite religious banners were raised in the port city of Sidon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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Moustafa Sharbini raises his hand to show the blood of his son Ali Sharbini, 16, who was killed during shooting, n the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Security officials said shooting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim gunmen in southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded at least three. The clashes between followers of hardline Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir and members of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah broke out after Shiite religious banners were raised in the port city of Sidon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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Lebanese Army soldiers are seen near a damaged car, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Security officials said shooting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim gunmen in southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded at least three. The clashes between followers of hardline Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir and members of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah broke out after Shiite religious banners were raised in the port city of Sidon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Lebanese troops clash with gunmen; 3 killed
BEIRUT (AP) — At least three Lebanese soldiers were killed and five others were wounded in clashes Friday between the
army and gunmen in the northeast near the Syrian border, a police official and the state-run news agency said.
The official said the gunmen ambushed an army intelligence unit in Arsal where it went to arrest a fugitive. He declined to give further details and spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The National News Agency said the fugitive, Khaled Hamid, is suspected of being involved in last year's kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists. They were abducted in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and held for nearly four months before being released in July.
It was unclear if Friday's clashes were related to the civil war in Syria. Deadly street clashes between pro- and anti-Syrians in Lebanon related to the civil war in Syria have erupted on several occasions in Lebanon, adding to the country's own sectarian tensions.
A senior Lebanese army officer said clashes were under way with gunmen in the area, but did not disclose further details.
Residents of Arsal, a Sunni Muslim town, are known to be sympathetic to the Syrian opposition fighting to topple President Bashar Assad next door, and arms smuggling into Syria is widespread in the area.
Since the armed uprising against Assad began, the town has become a sanctuary for war-weary Syrian rebels, a way station for wounded fighters and home to hundreds of Syrian refugee families.
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