Lebanon holds day of mourning after six killed in Beirut fighting

Lebanese army soldiers patrol the site where deadly clashes erupted (Bilal Hussein/AP)

Schools, banks and government offices across Lebanon have stayed closed after hours of gun battles between heavily armed militias killed six people and terrorised the residents of Beirut.

The government called for a day of mourning following the armed clashes, in which gunmen used automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on the streets of the capital, echoing the nation’s darkest era of the 1975-90 civil war.