Lebanon army fights to expel Syria-linked gunmen from border town

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By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese soldiers traded fire with Islamist gunmen and shelled areas around the border town of Arsal on Sunday in a push to dislodge the biggest incursion by militants into Lebanon since Syria's civil war began. At least 10 Lebanese soldiers have died in the fighting, which erupted after Islamist gunmen seized a local police station after the arrest of one of their leaders on Saturday - an attack army chief General Jean Kahwaji said was premeditated. An unknown number of militants and civilians, possibly dozens, were also killed in the fighting and more than a dozen members of Lebanon's security forces were taken captive. Security officials say the gunmen in Arsal include fighters linked to the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, as well as Syria's al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front.

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