Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A suicide car bombing targeted a Lebanese army checkpoint near the town of Arsal close to the border with Syria on Saturday, killing at least three people, Al Arabiya correspondent in Beirut reported.

“A suicide bomber detonated his car in front of a Lebanese army checkpoint at Aqabet al-Jurd in the Arsal area,” one security officiall told AFP. “There are dead and wounded among the soldiers," Reuters quoted another security source as saying.

The town of Arsal is home to thousands of Syrian refugees and also Syrian rebels and their Lebanese allies who have fled an army advance on the Syrian side of the border.

The bombing occurred hours after forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad routed rebels from two Syrian villages that lie near Arsal, which were part of an important rebel supply route, Associated Press reported.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. In the past extremist Sunni groups have claimed responsibility for attacking Lebanese soldiers, who they accuse of being partial to their rivals, the Shiite group Hezbollah.

*Alarabiya