LEBANON - Apr 26 - Lebanese Forces Tighten Security In Beirut.

Lebanon's security services set up checkpoints across Beirut amid fears of a new escalation in political and sectarian tensions after the bodies of two Sunni Muslims were found. The two, a 12-year old boy and a man of 25, had been missing since Apr 23 and speculation had been mounting that they were the victims of a revenge attack for the killing of a Shi'ite man during riots between pro- and anti-government students in January. Leaders of Lebanon's different political camps immediately called for calm. Veteran Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, one of the major forces in the governing coalition of PM Fouad Siniora, urged his followers to let the authorities handle the case. The murdered man, Ziad Qabalan, was a member of Jumblatt's PSP, as is the father of Ziad Ghandour, the 12-year old who was killed. Hizbullah, the Shi'ite group that leads the ongoing protests to bring down the government, earlier this week also condemned the kidnapping as "a crime". During riots in January at the Arab University in Beirut Adnan Shamas, a 29-year Shi'ite, was killed. He was a member of a powerful family that is based in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley. Some members of the family had sworn revenge after the killing and initial reports suggested that members of Jumblatt's PSP had been involved. But on Apr 25 the Shamas family denied any connection with the kidnapping and called for the release of the missing man and the boy. In his statement Apr 26 night, Jumblatt pointed out that the security forces are holding a Syrian man who has confessed to the killing of Shamas. The riots in January came days after violence during a Hizbullah-enforced opposition strike in which several government supporters had died. The anti-Syrian government camp is made up mainly of Sunnis, Christians and Druze, while the opposition is mainly Shi'ite and also Christian. The political crisis has often been translated into Sunni-Shi'ite tensions.