The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tripoli

Nine people including a boy of 10 were killed in fierce sectarian clashes which raged through the night in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, a security official said on Saturday.

Lebanese army tanks patrolled the streets after militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities fought with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in the latest bout of violence to rock the Mediterranean city.

Among the dead were a 10-year-old boy and two women, while another 50 people were injured, the security official told AFP.

Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May which led to the election of Michel Sleiman as president and the creation of a unity cabinet.

The latest unrest comes after the new cabinet hit snags in deliberations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence which would enable the government to be officially installed.

Despite a ceasefire that went into effect at 1500 GMT on Friday, intense fighting raged through the night but by Saturday morning the situation was calm as the army sent in reinforcements.

Dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles were patrolling the streets to keep the peace between fighters in the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tebbaneh district and the neighbouring largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen.

Interior Minister Ziad Barud and the head of the internal security forces Ashraf Rifi headed to Tripoli late Friday to see the situation for themselves and to assess measures to restore calm.

Bab al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen are mainly supporters of the mainly Shiite opposition led by the powerful Hezbollah movement.