Lebanon riot leaves 1 dead, 16 injured

Police said residents hurled stones and blocked the streets with burning tires and trash when officers arrived to enforce a government order to remove illegal shacks in the southern districts, which are a stronghold of the Islamic militant Hezbollah.

Armed men in the crowd began shooting, prompting officers to return fire, a police spokesman said. Rioters damaged three police vehicles, he said.

A preliminary investigation showed a teenage boy killed during the clash was hit by two bullets fired at close range from two different weapons, according to a police statement.

Twelve members of the security forces were among the wounded, police said. Four civilians, including a cameramen for the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV channel, were also wounded.

Television footage showed young men and women ducking for cover amid the sound of gunfire. Two wounded children, their bodies soaked in blood, were carried away by residents to a hospital.

The city's southern districts are a stronghold of Hezbollah, the political party and militant group that was targeted by Israel during its 34-day offensive in Lebanon in July and August.

Israeli aircraft inflicted massive damage on parts of the southern suburbs, leveling entire blocks around suspected offices and homes of Hezbollah officials as hundreds of thousands of residents fled the area.

However, the area where the riot took place Friday was not among the hard-hit neighborhoods, and authorities say people there simply took advantage of the chaos and the government's preoccupation with the war and relief to build illegally.

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