12 people killed in gun battle in northern Lebanon

Lebanese security and hospital officials say that at least 12 gunmen are dead and 20 wounded in a gun battle between pro- and anti-government groups in a remote region of northern Lebanon. Saturday's gunbattle occurred in the town of Halba in Akkar, a remote Sunni region in northernmost Lebanon when fighters loyal to Sunni leader Saad Hariri and the government clashed with members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a secular pro-Syrian group allied with the Shiite Hizbullah. The pro-government fighters stormed the office of the SSNP and set it ablaze after the gun battle. The number raises to 37 the death toll since Shiite-Sunni sectarian erupted in Beirut on Wednesday and spread to other regions.