Grenade Targets Army Checkpoint in Tripoli as ISF Arrests Fugitives
An army checkpoint was attacked by a hand grenade on Friday in Tripoli, only hours after a roadside bomb targeted an army vehicle and killed two troops in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.
"An unknown assailant riding a motorbike hurled a hand grenade towards an army checkpoint in the al-Omari area in Tripoli's Syria Street,” state-run National News Agency reported.
“Army troops opened fire at the biker but he managed to escape,” NNA added.
According to LBCI television, the grenade fell around 30 meters away from the checkpoint, causing material damage.
Meanwhile, the Internal Security Forces erected checkpoints “across all streets in Tripoli,” NNA said.
ISF members inspected vehicles, checked the IDs of passersby and arrested a number of fugitives who are wanted on judicial warrants, the agency added.
The ISF also staged armored patrols in the city's main and side streets.
The developments come in the wake of a deadly bomb attack on the army in Arsal, where two soldiers were killed and three others wounded.
Last week, the army carried out raids in Tripoli and arrested a Syrian man accused of belonging to a terrorist organization.
Media reports had recently accused an armed group operating in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front extremist groups, but the gunmen denied that.
The same group is also accused of being behind several attacks on the army in the city.
Y.R.
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