Students take cover during clashes between rival groups of students loyal to the government and the opposition in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday. - Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters):

Student battles killed at least two in Lebanon yesterday, as international donors promised US$7.6 billion some hope will help the United States-backed government survive a growing challenge from the Hezbollah-led opposition.

At least two opposition students were shot dead and 35 were injured, some by gunfire, at Beirut's Arab University, security sources said. The opposition-run NBN television station put the death toll at four, including two students.

Government soldiers

It was not immediately clear who opened fire but NBN and Al-Manar television, run by the opposition's Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah movement, blamed the shootings on pro-govern-ment gunmen loyal to Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri.

Soldiers fired into the air to try to disperse the crowds and were later deployed in large numbers in an effort to control the clashes.

Thick smoke rose from the area, where rioters had set cars and tyres ablaze. Soldiers used military trucks to evacuate scores of civilians trapped on the streets by the violence.

Rival television stations blamed each other's camps for the fighting. Witnesses reported shots fired at the students from rooftops in the mainly Sunni areas and attacks by a Shi'ite mob on a Sunni-run school in another area of the capital.

'Halt the strife'

Hezbollah issued a statement urging its supporters to pull out of the streets around the university, while Hariri urged supporters to show self-restraint and calm.

"What everyone should do now is halt the strife," Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Shi'ite opposition leader, told several television stations by telephone.

The opposition launched nationwide protests on Tuesday which shut down much of Lebanon and sparked violence in which three people were killed and 176 wounded.

The opposition want veto power in government and early parliamentary elections to topple the cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Siniora and his main backer, parliamentary majority leader Hariri, have refused to give in to the demands.