Two die in gunfight over 'missing' marine

Two people were killed today in a gunbattle between members of the clan of US marine Wassef Ali Hassoun and people who taunted them as being American collaborators, Lebanese security and hospital officials said.

The shooting took place in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli but not in the district where the family of Corporal Hassoun lives.

The casualties were not members of the Hassoun clan, which numbers over 1,000 people, officials said.

Hassoun, who disappeared in Iraq more than two weeks ago, turned up in Lebanon and was meeting American officials at the US Embassy in Beirut.

Journalists had waited all day outside the building where his family owns an apartment in the Abu Samra neighbourhood, hoping to meet the marine or members of his family.

Members of the Hassoun clan used cars to block the street outside the building at both ends.