BEIRUT, May 9 (Reuters) – Syrian troops fired across the
Lebanese border on Wednesday morning, killing a 75-year-old
woman and wounding her daughter, residents and a doctor in the
Lebanese town of al-Qaa said.
Halima Suleiman Karbi was shot in the head and her daughter,
33, was shot in the stomach as they sat by a mosque in the rural
mountainous border region, residents said. Both were taken to
hospital, where Karbi died from her wounds, a doctor said.
The United Nations refugee agency says 24,000 Syrians have
fled to Lebanon in the past 14 months to escape an increasingly
bloody struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his foes.
Last month a Lebanese television cameraman was killed by
gunfire from Syrian troops across the border. Shells have also
landed inside Lebanon in the past, and residents say Syrian
troops sometimes cross the frontier to pursue rebel fighters.
The United Nations estimates that Syrian security forces
have killed more than 9,000 people. Damascus says 2,600 of its
security personnel have died at the hands of insurgents.
(Reporting by Jamal Saidi and Afif Diab; Writing by Oliver
Holmes; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
