Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 13:00
AFP News Briefs List
Six killed during Beirut funeral: medics
Gunmen killed six people during the funeral procession on Saturday of a Sunni civilian killed in clashes that have rocked the Lebanese capital over the past four days, a hospital official told AFP.
"We have six dead and 20 injured, six of them in critical condition," the official at Makassed hospital said.
The procession was for Mohamed Shamaa, 24, who was killed in the Corniche al-Mazraa area on Thursday night.
Hundreds of residents of Tareek al-Jadidah, where the funeral procession was taking place, gathered at the cemetery as the army took up position nearby with gunmen still in the area, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
The latest bloodshed came just hours before Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora was to address the nation in what would be his first public response to Hezbollah's takeover of west Beirut, his office announced.
"The premier will address the Lebanese from his government headquarters to explain his position regarding the latest developments," a statement said.
More than 20 people have been killed in Lebanon since clashes erupted on Wednesday between mainly Sunni supporters of the Western-backed government and Shiite members of the Hezbollah-led opposition.
Images
Lebanese soldiers deploy in Corniche al-Mazraa, a tense neighbourhood of west Beirut. At least five people have been killed in fierce clashes in north Lebanon between supporters of the Western-backed government and of the opposition, a security official has told AFP.
© 2007 AFP Patrick Baz
