BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese soldiers killed two gunmen trying to infiltrate with others from the border zone between Lebanon and Syria, the Lebanese army said in a statement on Monday. A security source said they had been identified as members of Islamic State.

The army confronted the group as it tried to move towards army positions in the border region near the Lebanese town of Arsal, the statement said. The remaining members of the group fled during the incident on Sunday night.

The army fought several days of deadly battles last year with insurgent groups including Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front when they staged an incursion into Arsal.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Syrian army have been seeking to drive insurgents from the border zone in a campaign that got under way earlier this year. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shi’ite group, is fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad in the four year Syrian civil war.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alison Williams)