A gunman was killed and a soldier wounded when the army intercepted a car loaded with weapons on Thursday, announced the Army Command in a statement on Friday.

It said that a shootout, which took place at the border region of al-Qaa, erupted when a car failed to halt at an army checkpoint.

The Military Tribunal rejected on Friday Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi’s request to be released from detention.

The request has been rejected by Military Examining Magistrate Nabil Wehbeh and Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr.

The whereabouts of the six militants who had escaped the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp remains unknown, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

It said that it is likely that they headed to the northern city of Tripoli before heading to Syria to take part in the revolt against the country’s ruling regime.

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Friday that his suggestion on resuming the national dialogue should focus on discussing the situation in the northern city of Tripoli, stressing that if needed, the dialogue could discuss other issues.

“The (suggested) national dialogue will not tackle the arms that are apparently widely spreading in various places” across Lebanon, Berri told As Safir.

Detained Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi denied the accusations against him that he belongs to the al-Qaida terrorist organization as his release is not expected to take place any time soon, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday.

Informed sources from the investigations with the detainee revealed that al-Mawlawi had also denied accusations that he had fought alongside the Free Syrian Army against the Syrian army.

President Michel Suleiman reiterated his readiness to sign the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending in order to motivate the cabinet to approve the $3.12 billion draft that covers the expenses of the first half of 2012.

The president is optimistic that the financial crisis will end once the cabinet begins tackling the 2012 state budget, Suleiman’s visitors told An Nahar newspaper on Friday.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed that politicians have a responsibility to work on restoring calm in the northern city of Tripoli, reported As Safir newspaper on Friday.

He told the newspaper: “More than half of the gunmen in Tripoli are under the politicians’ influence.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati expressed optimism that calm would be restored in the northern city of Tripoli as all officials in the city are seeking to resolve the situation.

“We have passed through difficult situations but we were able to overcome them, it’s time for us to discuss the future,” Miqati told An Nahar newspaper on Friday.

Only hours after the Lebanese army intercepted the weapon-laden ship Lutfallah II off Tripoli’s coast, the Lebanese media was buzzing with reports attributed to security and political officials and claiming that the Lebanese army had received intelligence information from “major Western states,” with some saying that the U.S. was behind the intelligence tip-off.

The reports spoke of an arms shipment destined for the Syrian opposition, which Washington feared would end up in the hands of pro-Qaida gunmen practicing their activities in Syria and Lebanon – which further allowed the army to intercept the ship and seize its cargo.

Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi confirmed Thursday that he has filed a lawsuit against the General Directorate of General Security, rejecting any attempt to “implicate” him without his consent in the latest unrest in Tripoli.

The northern city has been witnessing intermittent deadly clashes since five days that were sparked by the arrest on Saturday of Islamist activist Shadi al-Mawlawi by General Security agents at the entrance of an office belonging to Safadi.