1 Aussie Terrorist killed- 3 others arrested in Tripoli.
The terrorists were using children as human shields during the clashes.
A Lebanese soldier walks past civilians outside a building where Lebanese troops clashed with Al-Qaeda-inspired militants in the northern port city of Tripoli. Ten people were killed in clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamists in the port city of Tripoli, including six Islamists and a policeman’s 10-year-old daughter, the army said.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)
One Australian terrorist was killed and 3 others arrested in a shootout with Lebanese forces in Tripoli yesterday.
Ya Libnan reported:
Tripoli – An Australian man is believed to be among seven Islamist militants killed in a raid on their hideout in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli yesterday, and three other Australians have been arrested in Lebanon over suspected links to hardline groups, Lebanese officials say.
The man died as a 10-hour siege at an apartment block reached a bloody climax when Lebanese troops stormed the building. One soldier was killed and 14 injured, and militants had also killed a policeman and three civilians.
The stand-off, which began shortly before midnight yesterday, was linked to 36-day-old battles between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants at a Palestinian refugee camp.
The violence in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, began when militants believed linked to Fatah al-Islam fired at soldiers trying to raid their apartment in Abu Samra district, starting a firefight with assault rifles and grenade launchers.
The army then blocked off the area and brought in reinforcements, including an armored troop carrier. It was unclear whether any of the militants in the building had survived.
The policeman was killed along with his 4 year old daughter and his father-in-law when he resisted the militants, the sources said.
One of the three is believed to be a Sydney man, Ibrahim Sabouh, 33, who has been living in Lebanon for more than a year with his wife and family.
Australian News reported that the terrorists used two children 4 and 8 as human shields during the fighting:
SEVEN Australians suspected of involvement with an al-Qaeda-linked terror group have been arrested following raids by the Lebanese army in which 11 people were killed.
Foreign militants were among the dead, including one man who may be Australian. Lebanese authorities were working last night to establish his nationality.
Five of those arrested, among them Sydney accountant Ibrahim Sabouh, were seized during a round-up of foreigners near the northern city of Tripoli last Thursday.
Information believed to have been passed on as a result of that raid led the Lebanese military to an apartment building in the city.
Security sources said that as troops approached on Saturday morning, a militant posing as an ice-cream seller outside the building opened fire with an automatic rifle, sparking a 10-hour siege that ended with six extremists, a soldier, a policeman and three civilians dead. Fourteen people were wounded.
The policeman, his two daughters, aged four and eight, and his father-in-law died after being used as human shields.
Two Australians were captured as they attempted to flee across open fields.
The Daily Telegraph says the Aussies have links to the Hezbollah terror group.