TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Police killed notorious Islamist militant Osama Mansour and his partner in a shootout during an operation to arrest Islamist cleric Khaled Hoblos in the northern city of Tripoli overnight, a police statement said Friday.
The statement by Internal Security Forces said Mansour and Ahmad Nather were killed after they opened fire on the police patrol as it tried to arrest Hoblos at 10:25 p.m. Thursday.
Hoblos was in a Kia Picanto. The Islamic cleric and the driver, identified as Amir al-Kirdi, were arrested, according to the statement.
It said two policemen were wounded in the shootout in Tripoli's Bab al-Raml neighborhood after Mansour, who was sitting in an Opel beside Nather, opened fire on the patrol.
Mansour was wearing an explosive belt. A military expert was called in and the belt was safely defused, police said.
A security source told The Daily Star Mansour was carrying a fake identity card in the name of Khaled al-Junaidi.
Mansour, who was close to Lebanon's top Islamist fugitive Shadi Mawlawi, was wanted over plotting several attacks against the Army in Tripoli.
He also took part in clashes between the neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.
Mansour and Mawlawi, who remains at large, are believed to have links with Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front.
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