Gunfire kills 2 in Lebanon's Tripoli

Two people were killed and 18 more wounded in renewed violence in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Thursday, a security source told AFP. The first death came in an exchange of fire in the Qubbeh neighbourhood of the city, security sources said, identifying the man as 26-year-old Moatassem al-Shamra. Two other people were wounded in the same exchange of fire. The source said a second man from the Bab el-Tebbaneh neighbourhood of the city was also killed, adding that a total of 18 people had been wounded in the city, as gunmen sniped in the city, and clashes raged. One of the wounded was a soldier and the source said that the military was returning fire in the town. The deaths came after days of unrest in the city, where violence has frequently erupted between pro- and anti-Syrian neighbourhoods. On Wednesday, a sniper shot dead one person in Bab el-Tebbaneh, according to a security source, who said four others were wounded in an exchange of gunfire that followed. Tripoli has been rocked by deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of the Damascus regime, where a two-year conflict has killed at least 70,000 people according to UN estimates.