BEIRUT: The head of Lebanon’s Agricultural Research Institute, Michel Afram, escaped from a kidnapping attempt in east Lebanon late Wednesday.

A security source told The Daily Star Thursday that two gunmen in a green Jeep Cherokee intercepted Afram’s car, a white Renault, shortly before midnight at Dhour Ksara, near the Bekaa Valley city of Zahle, in the east of the country.

The source said one of the gunmen approached Afram’s car, breaking the windshield with the butt of his gun in an attempt to snatch him.

But Afram was quick to grab his Kalashnikov laying on the car seat beside him, firing toward the would-be kidnappers, forcing them to flee, according to the source.

Afram was slightly injured by flying glass, added the source.

Lebanon has witnessed a rising kidnap-for-ransom wave.