ARSAL, Lebanon, May 28 (UPI) -- Gunmen killed three Lebanese army soldiers at a checkpoint in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal and fled to Syria, officials said.
The attack on the military checkpoint occurred around 3 a.m. Tuesday, security sources told The Daily Star newspaper. The soldiers suffered gunshot wounds to the head, chest and stomach, the report said.
Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke with the Lebanese chief of staff to discuss the attack.
"Any attack on the army will not deter us to maintaining security and the defense of Lebanon's sovereignty and independence. The Lebanese rally around the Lebanese army and support it in the difficult circumstances that the nation is going through," the newspaper quoted Mikati saying.
Ahmad al-Fliti, the deputy mayor of Arsal condemned the attack saying it was "an attack on every Lebanese [person]."
Schools in the border town were closed to protest the attack.
It is the second attack on soldiers in the area since the beginning of the year, the newspaper said. In February, gunmen ambushed a Lebanese army patrol killing an officer and soldier.
On Sunday five people were injured when Grad rockets exploded in the Hezbollah-controlled area of Beirut.
