5 Dead, 77 Hurt as Car Bombing Rocks Haret Hreik in Likely Suicide Attack
At least five people were killed and 77 others wounded in a car bomb attack that rocked the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik on Thursday.
After state-run National News Agency said six people were killed and 75 others wounded in the blast, caretaker Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil confirmed to several media outlets that the final casualty toll stood at 4 dead and 77 injured.
NNA later identified the dead as Iman Hijazi, her daughter Malak Zahwi, Adnan Awali and Abbas Karnib, noting that two wounded people were in a "very critical condition" at the Bahman Hospital.
Later on Thursday, al-Jadeed television said "Ali Hussein Khadra -- who had gone missing -- was martyred in the blast and his body was found at the Great Prophet Hospital."
The booby-trapped car exploded near al-Manar television's old building on al-Arid Street in Haret Hreik, the TV network said.
The bombing occurred hundreds of meters away from the headquarters of Hizbullah's political bureau, al-Manar said, after media reports said the blast went off near the HQ.
And as the army said the attack was carried out with a Grand Cherokee rigged with around 20 kilograms of explosives without announcing the bombing method, officials and Hizbullah sources did not rule out the suicide attack possibility.
"Ambulances belonging to the Civil Defense and the Islamic Health Committee have scrambled to the blast scene in Dahieh," al-Jadeed television said.
TV stations aired pictures of bystanders scrambling to put out fires in cars parked beneath a building whose facade was badly damaged by the explosion.
Al-Manar noted that although the bombing "was not as powerful as the previous blasts" that rocked areas in Dahieh, it caused damage to the surrounding buildings.
MTV said "the timing of the bombing is very bad because most people return home from their work places at this time."
Al-Mayadeen television said the blast scene is near to the location of the Ruwais bomb attack that happened several months ago.
"Hizbullah members opened fire in the air at the blast site in Haret Hreik in a bid to disperse people out of fear that another bombing might happen," MTV said.
"The blast site is near the al-Zawati Restaurant, in an area that previously contained Hizbullah's security zone and in which the HQ of Hizbullah's politburo is currently located," it added.
LBCI television quoted Hizbullah sources as saying that the blast was not targeted against any of the party's officials.
The National Commission for Management of Disasters and Crises -- which convened at the Grand Serail under Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir and in the presence of caretaker Premier Najib Miqati -- said the Army Command had "circulated the specifications of the Grand Cherokee that exploded in Haret Hreik on December 20, 2013."
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Army Command said “the blast resulted from around 20 kilos of explosives that were spread inside a dark olive green Grand Cherokee SUV carrying the license plate 341580/J,” noting that “a probe is underway to determine the bombing method.”
For his part, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told MTV that “the presence of human remains inside the car in Haret Hreik has made the suicide bomber hypothesis more likely."
"The car was not stolen and we're following up on everything to determine how the operation happened and security forces are exerting efforts in this regard," he added.
MP Bilal Farhat, member of Hizbullah's Loyatly to Resistance bloc, said: “It seems that a suicide bomber blew himself up in Haret Hreik as no cars can be parked in the area."
Later on Thursday, the National News Agency said Military Police transferred "the human remains of a suicide bomber" to the Bahman Hospital in Haret Hreik.
It said the remains include "the upper part of his body and some parts of his face and head."
Judicial sources told LBCI that "the suicide bomber hypothesis is not unlikely and (State Commissioner to the Military Court) Judge (Saqr) Saqr has tasked a forensic doctor to take samples of the human remains to conduct DNA tests."
Saqr also issued judicial warrants asking the Military Police, the army's Intelligence Directorate, the Criminal Evidence department and the Central Criminal Investigation Department to “inspect the Haret Hreik blast scene and conduct preliminary investigations and evidence gathering to determine all the information pertaining to the explosives-rigged car and its driver, those involved in the attack and those who plotted it.”
NNA said the Grand Cherokee was owned by Lebanese citizen Hala Mustafa Othman who hails from the Bekaa town of Ras al-Ain.
The engine of a Honda car was also found at the blast scene and its serial number was being retrieved in a bid to identify its owner, the agency added.
In its evening news bulletin, al-Manar TV said the circumstances of the attack were "quickly unveiled," revealing that "the booby-trapped car came from Arsal and it was sold by Sami Ali al-Hujairi to Abdul Basset Ammoun, who also hails from Arsal and lives in al-Qaa."
"Ammoun handed over the car to his relative Rakan Ammoun, who belongs to the group led by Sami al-Atrash and Ibrahim al-Atrash," al-Manar said.
Later on Thursday, NNA said "Sami al-Hujairi, whose name was mentioned in the case of the car that exploded in Haret Hreik, has turned himself in to the army's intelligence directorate, carrying documents that confirm that he had sold the car."
Haret Hreik's al-Arid Street is a symbolic one for Hizbullah, which once based many of its leadership institutions in the area. Much of the neighborhood was reduced to rubble by massive Israeli air bombing during the July 2006 war, but it has since been rebuilt.
Thursday's is the fourth bomb attack in Beirut's southern suburbs since Hizbullah announced it was fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's troops in Syria.
It came on the heels of a car bombing in downtown Beirut on Friday that killed former minister Mohammed Shatah, a member of the March 14 coalition, and seven other people.
A twin suicide bombing hit the Iranian embassy in south Beirut on November 19, killing 25 people.
In the summer, the southern suburbs suffered two bomb attacks. One, on August 15, killed 27 people. A blast earlier in August had caused no fatalities but wounded some 50 people.
Thursday's blast came just a day after media reports said that the Lebanese army had arrested the leader of the al-Qaida-linked group which claimed the Iranian embassy attack.
Saudi national Majed al-Majed, the chief of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, was being interrogated at a secret location, according to media reports.
The group was formed in 2009 and is believed to have branches in both the Arabian Peninsula and Lebanon.
Source: Naharnet
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