2 die as Lebanese troops shoot at car; 1 injured

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Troops opened fire Monday on a car that sped past a checkpoint outside Beirut international airport, killing two people and wounding a passer-by, police said. The car, carrying three passengers, initially stopped at the checkpoint, but only one of the occupants obeyed an order to get out of the vehicle before the other two drove off at high speed, police officials said speaking on customary condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make statements to the media. Troops fired warning shots, but the vehicle, a Mercedes Benz taxi, did not stop. Soldiers then aimed at the passengers, killing instantly Hassan Ali Kareki, a Lebanese, and seriously injuring the driver, Hamadeh Hammoud Haj Ahmed, a Syrian, police said. Ahmed later died in the hospital, said the officials, who added that a passer-by was moderately wounded in the shooting.