By Aimen Eljali.
Tripoli, 26 May 2013:
Police killed a member of an armed gang in central Tripoli early this morning after he . . .[restrict]and fellow gunmen attacked a police station in Martyrs Square.
The incident began around 4.30 am, according to a police source, when the gunmen driving past in a silver KIA Optima started firing at the station. The square was almost empty with no more than a dozen people there including those at the small police station. The police returned fire and called in reinforcements.
The gunmen then sped off, heading the wrong way up 24 December Street with two police cars in pursuit, firing at it.
According to the police source, the driver was hit and the car crashed into the wall of a bank at which point the other occupants fled. The police say they are not yet sure if there were three or four men in the car.
However, the vehicle was seen in nearby Shara Beirut at 7.44 this morning with the body of a man still inside. The interior of the car was spattered with blood and gore. According to a local police officer, it had stopped in 24 December Street where the other occupants ran off, but was then driven into Shara Haiti and then Shara Beirut and it was there that the driver was shot. He said that two semi automatic Kalashnikov rifles, two cases of grenades and a hand gun were founnd in the car.
An official at police headquarters explained that it was not yet known if the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A report was still awaited from the pathologist. [/restrict]
