Report: Suicide Bombers Linked to Fugitive Mansour Active in Tripoli
Suicide bombers affiliated to fugitive Ousama Mansour have been detected in several areas in the northern city of Tripoli as media reports said that his wanted accomplice Shadi al-Mawlawi is directly linked to the two men who carried out the Jabal Mohsen attack.
An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday that the movement of around ten members of Mansour's group have been perceived in the north. They are reportedly carrying explosive belts.
The newspaper said that detained suspects confessed during investigations with the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau that they were in contact with the suicide bombers, Taha al-Khayyal and Bilal al-Meraayan, who carried out the twin suicide bombing in Tripoli's Jabal Mohsen neighborhood.
On Sunday, al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front threatened the residents of Tripoli's Jabal Mohsen and Hizbullah with new attacks, a day after it claimed responsibility for the attack that killed nine and wounded more than 37 others.
The bombing was carried out in a packed cafe in Jabal Mohsen, a Lebanese district that is largely loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Meanwhile, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday that al-Khayal and Meraayan have links with al-Mawlawi.
The newspaper reported that investigations are ongoing in Saturday's attack as the data of al-Khayal's phone is being analyzed.
Khayal reportedly moved from the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh to Jabal Mohsen ahead of the attack.
Al-Mawlawi and Mansour have been charged in absentia with belonging to an armed terrorist group in order to stage terrorist acts.
Recent reports said that al-Mawlawi has taken refuge in Ain el-Hilweh.
The attackers, al-Khayal and Meraayan, had disappeared when the wanted terrorists went into hiding following the deadly gunbattles with the Lebanese army in and around Tripoli in October, they said.
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