3 Officers, 19 Soldiers Arrested for Questioning over Killing of Sheikh in Akkar
State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the arrest of three Lebanese army officers and 19 soldiers who were manning the checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat where Sunni Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed was killed, al-Liwaa daily reported Monday.
The arrests were made after midnight Sunday to investigate the incident which left Abdul Wahed and his aide Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Merheb dead while on their way to attend a rally organized by al-Mustaqbal MP Khaled Daher in Halba, al-Liwaa said.
Al-Mustaqbal official Mustafa Alloush confirmed to Radio Orient that more than 20 officers and soldiers participated in the killing of the two Sheikhs.
The Lebanese army only said in a communique that it deeply regretted the incident and a committee will investigate.
The news of the killing by the army 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 al-Mustaqbal movement and Arab Movement party near the Beirut Arab University in Tariq al-Jedideh, leaving two dead.
The fighting in Beirut was the most intense since May 2008, when Hizbullah gunmen swept through Sunni neighborhoods after the government tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network.
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