Eight Lebanese soldiers have been wounded when their patrol vehicle came under an attack by a group of unidentified armed men in northern city of Tripoli.
Security sources and the Lebanese military said gunmen fired machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade at the troops as they were hunting for wanted suspects in Bab Al Tabbaneh neighborhood of the city, situated 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of the capital Beirut, early on Tuesday.
A Lebanese Army statement said eight soldiers, including a lieutenant identified as Hassan Awada, were wounded in the incident.
The Army has launched a search operation to arrest the perpetrators, but no arrest has been made so far.
On April 30, as at least four Lebanese soldiers were injured in clashes between army forces and gunmen in the country’s northeast.
The incident took place after Takfiri militants ambushed an army unit near Lebanon’s northeastern border town of Arsal.
The Lebanese army confirmed the attack in a statement, saying that an “army patrol in the Al Rahuweh Arsal area was fired upon in an ambush by an armed group in hills surrounding the area,” adding, “The members of the patrol returned fire…and army forces are continuing to engage the militants.”
Arsal, situated near the Syrian border, has been a stronghold of rebels and other militants escaping from Syria.
Syria has been witnessing deadly violence since March 2011.
