2 Lebanese Soldiers Wounded In Attack

 

Two Lebanese soldiers were wounded in the fifth attack on the military since rioting resulted in seven people being killed in south Beirut a week ago, an army spokesman said Saturday.

 

He said the soldiers were about to board a taxi near the Mar Michael intersection late Friday when the gunmen opened fire from behind a rubbish bin.

 

“One soldier was wounded in the leg and the other suffered a very slight wound from a ricocheting stone,” the spokesman told AFP.

 

“In the past week unknown assailants have thrown grenades at army posts on four occasions in and around the capital,” he said, adding: “This is an attempt to unsettle people.”

 

No one was hurt in the grenade attacks, all of which happened at night, and an investigation was was under way. The spokesman would not say whether anyone had been arrested.

 

The area where the shooting took place was the scene of riots last weekend after a demonstration against power cuts turned violent. In clashes between troops and protesters, seven people were shot dead.

 

Two of the dead were members of the Hezbollah movement and five were from Amal. The two Shiite movements are the backbone of the Lebanese opposition, which is supported by Syria and Iran.

 

Hezbollah has called on the army to identify the killers urgently, saying this was the only way to contain people”s wrath. Other opposition figures have blamed the military directly for the deaths.

 

Lebanon is undergoing its gravest political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, with parliament paralyzed in a power struggle between the Western-backed government and the opposition.

 

The majority accuses the opposition of turning to the streets for political ends, a charge it denies.

The Mar Michael neighborhood was the demarcation line during the civil war.