2 Lebanese injured by Syrian landmines

Two Lebanese people were wounded Friday when a landmine exploded at the Lebanon-Syria border, a Lebanese security source told dpa.

One of the victims was identified as Ayman al-Mukhtar, a young Lebanese man, who became Friday the first casualty of landmines planted by Syrian troops along the Syria-Lebanon border.

Mukhtar, 24, was wounded when he stepped on a landmine planted in the border town of Amayra, north Lebanon, a security source said.

The other victim was identified as Imad Khaled Oweyshi . He had a leg blown off Friday as he was reportedly crossing the border from Syria back into Lebanon when he stepped on the mine,” a local official who requested anonymity told AFP.

Syrian activists based in Lebanon claim that Syrian troops have laid mines in areas near the northern Lebanese border to prevent army defectors and opponents to the government of President Bashar al-Assad from fleeing.

‘We can see the troops in the Syrian areas, which border northern Lebanon, planting more mines,’ one activist said on condition of anonymity.

An estimated 5,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since the anti-government protests began in Syria in mid-March, according to opposition activists.

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