One dead as Lebanese army helicopter comes under fire
Gunmen opened fire on a Lebanese army helicopter flying over a southern village on Thursday killing an officer, a security official said.
A Lebanese army statement identified the officer as First Lieutenant Samer Hanna.
An army official earlier told AFP that the helicopter was conducting a training mission over the southern village of Sejoud when it came under fire and was forced to make an emergency landing and several of the crew were also wounded.
The origin of the fire was not immediately known.
An AFP correspondent in the area said that the army had bolstered its presence and had set up roadblocks.
The Telal Sejoud area lies some 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Israeli border.
The area was considered a Hezbollah stronghold during the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and witnessed fierce battles before Israel”s withdrawal in 2000.
As part of the ceasefire deal that ended the devastating 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the army deployed in southern Lebanon along with a strengthened United Nations peacekeeping force.
Nine Lebanese soldiers and five civilians were killed in a bombing at a bus stop in the northern port city of Tripoli earlier this month in an attack thought to have targeted the army.