BEIRUT: One man was wounded when police and armed thieves traded gunfire in south Lebanon Thursday night, security sources told The Daily Star.

Hasan Shahadeh, and Abbas Meqdad, both 16, along with 23-year-old Hasan Ramadan were trying to break into a vehicle parked in a Nabatieh neighborhood when members of the Internal Security Forces Information Branch spotted them.

Police then pursued the men, who fled in a Toyota Carina without a license plate number.

During the chase, policemen and the suspects exchanged gunfire, wounding Ramadan, the sources said, without specifying the nature of the injury.

The three were later detained, the source said.

Shahadeh and Meqdad were referred to Nabatieh’s police station. Ramadan will join them after he receives treatment for his wounds.