London - Naeem Arzu
Gunmen have shot a Lebanese mayor, and killed two of his companions, including his relative Mohammed Hassan Hujeiri, on Sunday, only hours after he oversaw a hostage swap with the rival Moqdad clan, in an area increasingly disrupted by sectarian divisions. The group freed 13 hostages in exchange for Yusuf al-Moqdad.
Mayor Ali Hujeiri, a Sunni from the town of Arsal, was shot at in the mainly Shiite town of Labweh,
The attack happened near the border with Syria, which has seen fierce clashes between Lebanese Shiite and Sunni Muslims, who support opposing sides of the two-year-old civil war.
Ali Hujeiri is currently wanted as part of an investigation into the killing of two Lebanese security officials, at the checkpoint in Arsal, a few months ago.
He was transferred to hospital, and doctors said his condition was not life-threatening.