Three People, Including Syrian Convicted of Forgery, Killed at Army Checkpoint
| Lebanese troops opened fire at a speeding taxi cab which drove past their checkpoint near Beirut Airport, killing a Syrian convicted of forgery as well as two other Lebanese citizens. Police identified the fatalities as Hamadeh Mahmoud Haj Ahmad, a Syrian, and Hussein Karaki and Qassem Noureddine, both Lebanese citizens. Security Sources told Naharnet on Monday that Haj Ahmad was driving the vehicle at high speed, and refused to slow down upon instructions from soldiers manning a checkpoint near the airport. “He smashed the obstacles and drove past the checkpoint waving his middle finger at soldiers,” one source told Naharnet. The troops fired “warning shots, and when the driver failed to pull over they opened fire at the car. Hussein Karaki, a Lebanese citizen who was sitting next to the driver, was killed and Haj Ahmad was seriously wounded,” the source added. The sources said Haj Ahmed did not stop at the checkpoint apparently because he had been convicted by a Lebanese court on forgery charges. They noted that non-Lebanese are banned by law from driving taxi cabs “which raises questions as why Haj Ahmad, a Syrian, was driving a commuting vehicle owned by a Lebanese citizen.” Registration documents show the car, a white Mercedes Benz, is owned by Lebanese citizen Ali Mohammed Fares who would be interrogated to find out why his vehicle was being used by a foreigner, the source told Naharnet. The sources said the car was carrying two passengers, in addition to the Syrian driver. They said only one traveler obeyed orders to step out of the vehicle before Haj Ahmed and Karaki sped away. They said the passenger who got out of the car was detained for questioning. TV footage showed the car, with its front damaged, resting on a ramp in the middle of the road about 200 meters from the terminal building. Troops manned the sidewalk checking IDs, but the road to and from the country’s only international airport remained open. Later Monday, an assailant tossed a concussion grenade at a municipal building containing a prison in the eastern city of Zahle, causing panic but no injuries, police officials said. On Sunday evening, five people, including three servicemen, were wounded when unknown assailants tossed a hand grenade from a speeding car off Beirut’s Barbir Bridge, falling near an army checkpoint. Lebanese troops and police officers have erected hundreds of checkpoints in Beirut and other cities to tighten security following what appears to be a series of bomb blasts aimed at destabilizing Lebanon. Fatah al-Islam, a terrorist faction fighting the Lebanese army in the north, has vowed to strike at other areas. Lebanese authorities say Fatah al-Islam is a Syrian-sponsored terrorist organization. Syria denies the claim. |
| Beirut, 28 May 07 |
