GAZA CITY - The Palestinian leadership Tuesday condemned the shooting of two Lebanese policemen by pro-Syrian militants opposed to the peace process with Israel.

Monday's incident near the town of Naameh just south of Beirut sparked angry protests by hundreds of residents against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) and the bases it retains in Lebanon.

"The Palestinian Authority condemns the shooting in Naameh by members of a Palestinian faction that wounded two Lebanese citizens," a statement said.

"The Palestinian Authority respects the sovereignty and laws of Lebanon which are binding on the Palestinians present on its territory."

The PFLP-GC maintains a string of heavily fortified bases in Lebanon -- in the eastern Bekaa valley near the border with Syria as well as just outside Naameh -- a legacy of Syria's long domination of its smaller neighbour.

Lebanese troops surrounded the bases in October after an army surveyor was killed in an attack blamed on the group's militants but without anyone being handed over.

Two members of the group were wounded in an Israeli air raid on Naameh on December 28 in response to rocket attacks launched on northern Israel from southern Lebanon.

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