Three Australians are among alleged Islamic extremists arrested after fighting against Lebanese soldiers in the northern port city of Tripoli, Australia's foreign minister said Monday.Posted on 25 June 2007 @ 13:57 GMTOfficials in Canberra were also checking reports that two other Australians were killed in the fighting, Alexander Downer said.
He did not release the names or other identifying factors of the arrested men, or the date they were detained.
"They've been arrested as a result of fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamic extremists and they certainly weren't in the Lebanese army," Downer told reporters.
"The allegation against these three is that they were involved with an Islamist extremist organization," he said.
"The fact that the Lebanese authorities have arrested them and done so in Tripoli by the security forces suggests rather obviously that they had very significant security concerns about these people," he said.