CAIRO (Reuters) - The Lebanese Judges Association again rejected on Friday calls to dismiss the judge heading a probe into last year's massive blast in Beirut and defended the judiciary as the "last bastion of the idea of the state", state news agency NNA reported.

       The association called for the perpetrators of Thursday's shootings in Beirut, in which six Shi'ites were killed, to be quickly identified and punished, NNA added.

       (Reporting by Yasmin Hussein; Writing by Yomna Ehab; Editing by Catherine Evans)