DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - AUSTRALIA/LEBANON: 7 AUSSIES, WITH SUSPECTED AL QUEDA TIES, CAPTURED IN LEBANON

Aussies seized in terror raids
Martin Chulov and Richard Kerbaj

SEVEN Australians suspected of involvement with an al-Qai'da-linked terror group have been arrested following raids by the Lebanese army in which 11 people were killed.

Foreign militants were among the dead and Lebanese authorities were working last night to establish whether any of them were Australian.

Five of those arrested, among them Sydney accountant Ibrahim Sabouh, were seized during a round-up of foreigners near the northern city of Tripoli last Thursday.

Information believed to have been passed on as a result of that raid led the Lebanese military to an apartment building in the city.

Security sources said that as troops approached on Saturday morning, a militant posing as an ice-cream seller outside the building opened fire with an automatic rifle, sparking a 10-hour siege that ended with six extremists, a soldier, a policeman and three civilians dead. Fourteen people were wounded.

The policeman, his two daughters, aged four and eight, and his father-in-law died after being used as human shields.

Two Australians were captured as they attempted to flee across open fields.

It was reported last night that those arrested were not members of the al-Qai'da-linked terror group Fatah al-Islam, which has been engaged in a brutal insurgency in northern Lebanon for the past month.

But Lebanese authorities confirmed that the seven Australians were being held on suspicion of being members of a terrorist organisation, although no charges had been laid.

The Australian understands that Mr Sabouh, an accountant from Auburn in Sydney's west who migrated to Lebanon with his wife and three children more than a year ago, was arrested during a raid on his Tripoli home.

Sources said the other Australians were arrested in his home.

Mr Sabouh's wife is understood to have contacted relatives in Australia and told them the authorities had not found any weapons or other incriminating material at her home. Last night, The Australian visited the house in Auburn were Mr Sabouh lived before he left for Lebanon and was told by a man that the family did not wish to comment.

It is believed Mr Sabouh is a follower of the Salafist brand of Islam - a hardline interpretation espoused by the Fatah al-Islam terrorist group which has been fighting to overthrow the Lebanese Government. The group claims the Government is un-Islamic and unrepresentative of the people.

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