Bomb kills 3 Lebanese troops battling Islamic State
BEIRUT — Lebanon suffered its first casualties from a massive operation to drive the Islamic State group from an area along the Syrian border on Sunday when a roadside bomb killed three soldiers.
The deaths came a day after the U.S.-backed army launched its biggest military operation yet against IS, which gained a foothold along the tiny Mediterranean country’s border with Syria in 2014.
The Lebanese Armed Forces pressed their offensive Sunday in a mountainous region bordering Syria, capturing new hills from IS. A bomb struck one of the advancing armoured vehicles, killing the soldiers.
Lebanese military spokesman Col. Fadi Boueid said the blast that killed the three soldiers also critically wounded a fourth, He said troops were able to destroy a vehicle and a motorcycle driven by IS suicide attackers before they could hit their targets, and that 15 militants were killed on Sunday as a result of fighting and bombardment.