Damascus, Dec 8 (IANS): Three Lebanese soldiers were captured by gunmen near the border with Syria, days after the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, the Nusra Front, executed a Lebanese policeman it was holding captive.

The three soldiers were reportedly taken Monday morning in the town of Brital in the Bekaa Valley, which borders Syria, after the gunmen infiltrated army positions, Al Jazeera reported.

The civil war in Syria has raised tensions in the Bekaa Valley, where Sunni Muslims support the uprising against president Bashar al-Assad.

Violence has flared up in the surrounding areas where the Lebanese army also battled Syria-based fighters, including the Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS).

Earlier in August, fighters from the Nusra Front and IS stormed Arsal in the worst spillover of violence to date, killing at least 17 soldiers and capturing more than 20 soldiers and policemen in the cross-border raid.

Friday, the Nusra Front executed a police officer, Ali al-Bazzal, and said it did so in response to the arrest of family members of its commanders.

Bazzal was the fourth hostage to be killed by his captors.

The fate of the remaining security officers has kept Lebanon on the edge for the past few weeks. The relatives of the hostages are staging protests in Beirut, and in other parts of Lebanon, to pressurise the government to negotiate with the militants.