Lebanon says 21 killed in strike on northern village

Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) – Lebanon's health ministry said at least 21 people died Monday in a rare Israeli strike on a northern Christian-majority village, far from Hezbollah strongholds, with DNA tests being conducted to identify body parts.

A Lebanese security official told AFP the building "housed families displaced from Lebanon's south, and was targeted shortly after a man had arrived in a car".

He requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

"The Israeli enemy strike on the village of Aito... killed in a preliminary toll 21 people and injured eight. DNA tests are being conducted to determine the identity of body parts recovered at the strike site," the ministry said, referring to a village in the Christian-majority Zgharta district.

The official National News Agency said Israel targeted a "residential apartment" in the village.

So far, Israeli strikes have mainly been concentrated in predominantly Shiite Muslim areas, where Hezbollah built its power base in a state wracked by sectarianism.

An AFP photographer at the site of the strike said it had levelled a residential building at the entrance to the village.

Body parts were scattered in the rubble, with Red Cross volunteers searching for survivors in the wreckage while ambulances evacuated the wounded.

The Lebanese army imposed a security cordon in the area, where the strike also sparked a fire, he said.

In another strike outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds, on Saturday the health ministry reported two dead and four wounded in an Israeli strike on Deir Billa, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the town of Batroun on Lebanon's north coast.

After almost a year of cross-border fire over the Gaza war, Israel on September 23 launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah's south and east Lebanon strongholds, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs.

The escalation has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures.