A powerful
car bomb tore through the Beirut Southern Suburbs' region of Roueis, a stronghold of Hezbollah Thursday, claiming the lives of 27 civilians and leaving more than 289 wounded, some of whom are still receiving treatment.
For his part, caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil issued a statement whereby he announced that at least 21 persons were confirmed dead and almost 300 were wounded, adding that efforts are being exerted to identify the bodies who were transferred to Al Rasul Al Azam Hospital.
Forensic investigators, emergency workers and security forces were still working at the site on Friday morning, amid burnt out cars and charred facades of residential buildings.
Nearby, masked men fired in the air as the first funeral processions of victims of Thursday's explosion drove slowly through the streets of densely populated south Beirut.
The blast, a month after another car bomb wounded more than 50 people in the same district of the Lebanese capital, came amid sectarian tensions over the intervention of Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah against Sunni rebels in Syria's civil war.
A Sunni Islamist group calling itself the Brigades of Aisha claimed responsibility for the attack and promised more operations against Hezbollah in a
video posted on
YouTube.
Judicial Procedures:
Acting public prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud will preside over a security meeting on Friday whereby he will be briefed on new details regarding the Dahiye explosion.
Meanwhile, Judge Sami Sader ordered the region of Roueis be cordoned off where the explosion had taken place in order to facilitate search efforts for evidence.
In this regard, Judge Sader filed a complaint against 11 persons affiliated with the Daraya network, 7 of whom are detained while 4 others remain fugitives. The said persons were reportedly planning for attacks against figures and Shiite posts in Lebanon.
Judge Sader also filed a complaint against a group dubbed "al-Nasef" which was arrested on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.
The group is reportedly affiliated with Jabhat al-Nusra Front and is said to have communicated with other groups in Syria.
Explosive Device:
Preliminary reports indicated
that the Roueis explosion came as a result of an explosive device that weighs
between 55 to 60 KG of TNT.
Earlier, the Al-Hayat
newspaper reported that a white van roamed the neighborhood prior to the blast,
noting that the explosion detonated in the middle of the road since the van was
prevented from parking near a shopkeeper.
National Mourning:
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared Friday a national day of mourning for the victims of the Dahiyeh explosion, noting that all the Lebanese public institutions will stop working from 10 until 11 am.
In this regard, Mikati called on all the Lebanese people to observe five minutes of silence at 11 am to mourn the victims, “in condemnation of the heinous crime and to voice rejection to terrorism.”
International Positions:
The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the Roueis explosion that claimed the lives of at least 21 persons, with the 15-member council urging all the Lebanese people to preserve national unity in light of attempts to undermine the country's stability.
For his part, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that all the Lebanese should remain united by supporting state institutions and maintaining security.
Following a meeting between Israeli President Shimon Peres
and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Peres expressed shock after learning that
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman had accused Israel of being behind the Roueis explosion.
In turn the
Free Syrian Army denied any involvement
in the explosion that rocked southern Beirut's Roueis region, accusing
Damascus and Tehran, the allies of Hezbollah, of being behind it.
LBCI/REUTERS
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