TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Five people were killed in fierce sectarian clashes in Lebanon’s northern port of Tripoli yesterday as fighters exchanged rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire, a security official said. Two women were among the victims, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that another 22 people were wounded before a cease-fire took hold.

The official said most of those hurt were caught in crossfire between fighters in the mainly Sunni Bab Al-Tebbaneh district and the neighboring largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen, while at least one person was wounded by a sniper.

A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) slammed into an apartment building near a vegetable market, setting it ablaze, while another one hit a mosque in Bab Al-Tebbaneh, an AFP correspondent said.

Bab Al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen are mainly supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah-led opposition.

Fighting broke out overnight and raged during the morning, the correspondent said, adding that the sound of exploding RPGs was also heard intermittently in the afternoon.

A cease-fire announced for 12.30 p.m. (0930 GMT) by the Sunni mufti of northern Lebanon, Malek Al-Shaar, after a meeting of political and religious officials in Tripoli, failed to take hold.

Sunni MP Mohammed Abdel Latif Kabbara of the parliamentary ruling majority said a new cease-fire would go into effect in the evening and that the army would take action against anyone violating the truce.

“The army has sent reinforcements to the battle zones to secure the cease-fire and the army command has promised us to firmly respond to any violation of the cease-fire,” Kabbara said.

Shopkeepers in the area kept their stores shut yesterday because of the violence and people were seen fleeing their homes near the front lines, the AFP correspondent said.

Families who stayed behind took cover inside shops and underground garages as hundreds of gunmen took to the streets in full sight of the army which stood by without intervening, the correspondent added.

Earlier, an army spokesman told AFP that soldiers “cannot intervene and use force because the neighborhoods are densely populated.” “The shooting is from inside buildings and we cannot use our artillery because civilians could get killed or wounded.”

Loudspeakers urged people to stay where they were and not make their way to mosques for Friday prayers because of the fighting. “Our home is in a dangerous area,” said Ali Al-Sheikh, a father of seven. “We left our home at three in the morning and now we’re sheltering in a mosque with about 70 other families,” he added.

The latest fighting comes after the newly formed Cabinet hit snags in deliberations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence which would enable the government to be officially installed.