Lebanon sees bombing, sniper killing - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com

Lebanon sees bombing, sniper killing - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com: "BEIRUT, Lebanon - Islamic militants killed a soldier Thursday in a Palestinian camp where violence has raged for three weeks, and a bombing in a Christian town killed at least one man in the latest in a string of explosions that has shaken Lebanon since the fighting erupted.

In eastern Lebanon, an army raid on a suspected militant hideout uncovered vehicles rigged with explosives that were hidden in a garage with several rockets.

Tensions have been high in Lebanon since fighting broke out May 20 between the army and Fatah Islam militants in the northern Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. There also have been clashes at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the south and several bombings in the Beirut area, sparking fears of spreading chaos.

The soldier was shot by Fatah Islam snipers in the Nahr el-Bared camp, security officials said. Earlier, the al-Qaida-inspired militants attacked an armored personnel carrier, wounding three soldiers, and the army retaliated by firing artillery, tanks and machine guns.

The bomb exploded in an industrial area in Zouk Mousbeh, 12 miles north of Beirut and near the town of Jounieh in the country's Christian heartland, security officials said. It set off fires in several buildings.

Civil defense workers pulled a man's body from a gutted building. Three other men were wounded in the blast, officials said.

Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television said the area targeted consisted of about 300 shops that sell paint and other flammable materials to industrial customers. Stored gas and oxygen containers swiftly caught fire in the blast." Read complete post here.