A Lebanese soldier and 4 attackers were killed in two separate assaults late Sunday on army checkpoints within the southern city of Sidon, the army said in a press release.
“At 9:15 p.m. (1915 GMT) today (Sunday) an armed man approached a military checkpoint within the north of Sidon, and launched a hand grenade towards it, injuring two soldiers,” the military statement said.
“Troops manning the checkpoint fired back on the attacker, resulting in his death,” it added.
Then at 10:20 p.m. (2020 GMT), three armed men in a four-by-four vehicle approached a second army checkpoint at another location inside the southern city.
One of them “blew himself up with a hand grenade he was holding, killing him and a soldier,” said the military, adding that another soldier was wounded inside the attack.
“Then troops on the checkpoint opened fire on the other armed men and killed them,” the army added.
The army gave no details at the identities or nationalities of the attackers, but said the army police has opened an investigation into the incidents.
A security source in Sidon, southern Lebanon’s largest city, meanwhile told AFP on condition of anonymity that “the attacks were likely coordinated.”
AFP’s correspondent in Sidon said the military deployed vehicles along the city’s main roads because it stepped up security.
Sidon is found some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Beirut.
The majority Sunni city was the scene of fierce battles in June that pitted the military against fighters loyal to a thorough cleric, Ahmad al-Assir, who has since been at the run.
Assir is fiercely against the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and its ally in Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad.
The June battle claimed the lives of 18 Lebanese troops and 11 fighters, and ended when the military seized control of Assir’s compound within the city.
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