TRIPOLI, July 26: Lebanese tanks were out on the streets of Tripoli on Saturday to restore security after nine people were killed in a fresh bout of sectarian fighting in the northern port city.

Militants from the rival communities battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons through the night in the latest violence to rock the Mediterranean city.

Among the dead were a 10-year-old boy and two women, while another 50 people were injured in the fighting that first erupted early on Friday and raged through the night despite a ceasefire that was to have taken effect at 1500 GMT.

“The army is working for real calm in the north,” an army official said, but added: “Security requires political agreement.” 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.

“This is a political conflict between the Lebanese. Rather than go to the constitutional institutions, they are reverting to the use of weapons,” the army official said.

The army was on high alert, with tanks and armoured vehicles patrolling the streets to keep the peace in Bab al-Tebbaneh district and the neighbouring largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen, both impoverished areas.

Shops in the area were closed, streets were deserted and many families who evacuated their homes near the battle zone were taking refuge in schools. Bab al-Tebbaeh resident Ali Darwish, 63, said he spent on Friday night with his three children and 14 grandchildren in a classroom without electricity.—AFP