Bomb explodes at Hezbollah checkpoint in eastern Lebanon

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded at a checkpoint controlled by Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on Saturday, security sources and the state news agency NNA said. The explosion took place outside the village of Khraibeh in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, a region that has experienced increased violence in the spillover from Syria's civil war next door. Al-Manar television channel, which is run by Hezbollah, denied local media reports that three members of its group had been killed. It gave no further information on the blast. It was not clear who was behind Saturday's explosion, but in the past Sunni Muslim groups linked to al Qaeda have claimed attacks on Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah has been helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fight a Sunni Islamist-dominated insurgency that spilled into the Lebanese border town of Arsal on Aug. 2, triggering five days of battles between the Lebanese army and militants including members of Islamic State. (Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Leslie Adler and Greg Mahlich)