Lebanon tense after clashes

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Lebanese tanks were out on the streets of Tripoli on Saturday to restore security after nine people were killed in a fresh bout of sectarian fighting in the northern port city.

Militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons through the night in the latest violence to rock the Mediterranean city.

Among the dead were a 10-year-old boy and two women, while another 50 people were injured in the fighting that first erupted early Friday and raged through the night despite a ceasfire that was to have taken effect at 1500 GMT.

“The army is working for real calm in the north,” an army official told AFP, but added: “Security requires political agreement.”

Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May which led to the election of Michel Sleiman as president and the creation of a unity cabinet.