Man killed at a Lebanese army check point

Young man Charbel Rahme, who hails from the northern town of Bcharri, was killed on Sunday by troops’ gunfire when his vehicle failed to stop at an army checkpoint at al-Madfoun Bridge in the North, state-run National News Agency reported. Rahme died immediately as a gunshot struck his head, NNA said. His body was transported to the Batroun Hospital and the military police arrived on the scene and started their investigations, the agency added. Meanwhile, Akhbar al-Yawm news agency said the army closed the Tripoli-Highway at al-Madfoun for around 15 minutes when a white Mercedes 190 failed to stop at the army checkpoint and prompted troops to open fire. According to information obtained by OTV later on Sunday, "the shooting death of the young man in al-Madfoun happened after he refused to have his car searched and fled the checkpoint." On Monday, state commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the arrest of three army officers and 19 soldiers who were manning a checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat where Sunni clerics Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and Sheikh Mohammed Morheb were killed by gunfire. The two clerics were on their way to attend a rally organized by al-Mustaqbal MP Khaled Daher in the neighboring town of Halba. In the wake of the shooting, the army said in a communique that it deeply regretted the incident and that a military committee will look into the case. The news of the killing pushed several angry residents to the streets of Akkar villages as protestors cut off roads with burning tires in the northern province, and the road in Naameh and other roads in the Beirut areas of Verdun, Mazraa, Beshara al-Khoury and Qasqas. The anti-Syria cleric’s death also caused armed clashes between supporters of the Mustaqbal Movement and Arab Movement party near the Beirut Arab University in Tariq al-Jedideh, leaving two dead. he tex