(AP) Lebanese security and hospital officials say that at least 12 gunmen are dead and 20 wounded in a gun battle between pro- and anti-government groups in a remote region of northern Lebanon.

Saturday's gun battle occurred in the town of Halba in Akkar, a remote Sunni region in northernmost Lebanon when fighters loyal to Sunni leader Saad Hariri and the government clashed with members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a secular pro-Syrian group allied with the Shiite Hezbollah.

The pro-government fighters stormed the office of the SSNP and set it ablaze after the gun battle.

The number raises to 37 the death toll since Shiite-Sunni sectarian violence erupted in Beirut on Wednesday and spread to other regions - the worst sectarian bloodshed since the 1978-90 civil war that killed 150,000 people and left Beirut divided along religious lines.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request.

An opposition statement says the move comes after the army called on gunmen to get off the street and reopen the roads.

The Lebanese army command had ordered its troops Saturday to establish security, calling on all parties to withdraw their gunmen from the streets while offering the opposition Hezbollah a compromise.

An army statement said that the airport security chief, whose firing precipitated the latest crisis, will be reinstated. The statement also said that Hezbollah's controversial communications network will be put under army supervision instead of being dismantled. The measures are seen as conciliatory to Hezbollah and meet some of their demands.

But the Hezbollah statement said that a "civil disobedience" campaign will continue until its demands are met.

"An Armed And Bloody Coup"

Earlier today, a Shiite Muslim shop owner opened fire on a funeral procession Saturday, killing two people and wounding six others in a Sunni neighborhood, police and witnesses said.

The attack came a day after Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized most of the capital's Muslim sector.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora accused Hezbollah of staging an "armed coup" against Lebanese democracy, and called on the army to restore law and order and remove gunmen from the streets.

In a nationally televised address, he called on the army "to impose security on all, in all areas, deter the gunmen and immediately remove them from the street ... to restore normal life."

"Hezbollah must realize that the force of arms will not intimidate us or make us retreat from our position," he said in his first comments since the fighting began.

In Beirut's western Muslim sector, most of the Hezbollah gunmen had pulled out of Sunni-dominated neighborhoods by Saturday morning, leaving just small bands of Shiite allies carrying assault rifles to patrol the streets.

Though most of Beirut was calmer Saturday, the shooting underlined the lawlessness that has engulfed the seaside city since Sunni-Shiite violence first erupted four days ago.

On Friday, Iranian-backed Hezbollah gunmen took over large swaths of western Beirut from Sunnis loyal to Lebanon's U.S.-backed government. Many later pulled back, but tensions remained high between supporters of the Shiite militant Hezbollah and the country's Sunni Muslims.

But Hezbollah's show of military power was certain to both strengthen its own political position in Lebanon and deeply worry a Middle East and Western world that are nervous about Iran's growing influence and its intentions in the region.

An Associated Press photographer who witnessed Saturday's shooting said the attack came as a procession of 200 people marched toward a cemetery to bury a 24-year-old man killed by a sniper's bullet earlier this week. Two people were killed and six wounded in the shooting, police said.

The shooting occurred even though the Lebanese army had positioned armored personnel carriers and jeeps at every intersection. The neighborhood, Tarik Jadideh, was one of the few Sunni areas Shiite militants had not seized Friday because the army had deployed in large numbers.

Police said troops later captured the gunman. Neighborhood residents identified him as a Shiite shop owner, who opened fire after the procession passed his store. After the attack, angry residents stormed the shop and set it on fire.

Though the capital was quiet overnight, violence spread to other areas of Lebanon. Police said Saturday that seven people were killed in the mountain town of Aley east of Beirut on Friday. Another civilian died in the clashes in the southern city of Sidon, police said.

The army, which has stayed on the sidelines of the political crisis that has paralyzed Lebanon for more than a year, deployed heavy armor and troops to seal off neighborhoods after Hezbollah militants pulled back.

Hezbollah seized the Sunni neighborhoods of Beirut after its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Thursday accused the U.S.-backed government of "declaring war" on the militant group.

Lebanon's Cabinet had sought to rein in Hezbollah by ordering the removal of an airport security chief over alleged ties to militants and demanding the dismantling of the movement's private phone network.

Along with seizing neighborhoods, militants also have shut Lebanon's airport by barricading the road leading to it. The seaport also was closed.

The Shiite fighters' swift success dramatically empowered the hand of the Hezbollah-led opposition in the bitter political struggle with pro-Western factions over who will guide the country.

The rout of government supporters also was a blow for Washington, which has long considered Hezbollah a terrorist group and condemns its ties to Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has been a strong supporter of Saniora's government and its army the last three years.

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