The World - News from July 20, 1988

Maronite Catholics in northern Lebanon repulsed fierce attacks on their town by Shia Muslim gunmen, and police said five people were killed and 25 wounded in the fighting. The attacks raised the casualty toll to 11 dead and 45 wounded since fighting began Sunday between the Muslim Jaafar clan and residents of the Catholic town of Qoubaiyat, northeast of Beirut. A police spokesman in Tripoli said the trouble began when armed Qoubaiyat shepherds and the Jaafars clashed over sheep grazing lands. Before a truce was called in the latest fighting, residents of Qoubaiyat repulsed three attacks by 2,000 Jaafars using rocket launchers, howitzers and mortars.