Lebanon Detains 450 Suspected Nusra Front Militants In Syria Border Crackdown

(Adds casualties)

BEIRUT, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Lebanese army said one person was killed and two wounded during a search for suspected militants at refugee camps near the border with Syria, and security sources said the number detained in the past two weeks had reached about 450.

The army has been stepping up efforts to prevent fighters from Syria using the Lebanese border town of Arsal and surrounding areas as a base. Arsal was the scene of last month of the deadliest spillover of fighting in the three-year civil war in Syria and is also home to tens of thousands of refugees.

The Lebanese army said soldiers had shot at three people on a motorbike who were trying to set fire to parts of a refugee camp during the raids, killing one and wounding the other two.

The army says the hundreds of people arrested are mainly Syrians and authorities accuse them of being members of groups such as Nusra Front, Syria's al Qaeda wing, which is fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Anti-Assad insurgents often cross the border, using Arsal to rest or seek medical treatment. On Thursday the army said it had detained four people believed to be linked to Nusra Front.

Clashes last month in and around Arsal killed dozens. Islamist militants captured a group of Lebanese soldiers during the fighting and have since killed at least three of them. They are believed to be holding more than a dozen others.

Sunni Muslim militants and other groups in Syria accuse the Lebanese army of working with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi'ite movement which has sent fighters to help Assad's forces. (Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Louise Ireland)