Two Hurt as Bomb Explodes outside BLOM Bank in Verdun

A bomb went off Sunday evening outside a branch of the BLOM Bank in Beirut's Verdun area, injuring two people.

The powerful explosion was heard across the western part of the capital.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced shortly after the blast that the explosion caused no casualties. But the Lebanese Red Cross said later that two people were injured, one of them lightly.

The explosion occurred few minutes after residents sat down for iftar, the meal that breaks the daylong fast for observing Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, when the streets in predominantly Muslim areas like Verdun are usually empty.

Mashnouq said the bomb was inside a suitcase that was placed outside the bank, noting that the blast did not seem to be related to the previous wave of bomb attacks in the country or to any recent intel that security agencies have received about possible terrorist attacks.

He later announced that the BLOM Bank branch was "clearly the target" of the bombing.

And in remarks to AFP, Mashnouq said that a bomb containing about 3-4 kilos of explosives had been "placed behind the back wall of BLOM Bank."

State-run National News Agency said the explosive device was placed under a car.

“The explosive device was placed in a flower container outside the BLOM Bank and it is estimated to weigh around 15 kilograms,” Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous said after inspecting the scene.

He also reassured that the army and security forces are “taking strict security measures to protect all touristic and economic sites across Lebanon.”

BLOM bank has been criticized by some pro-Hizbullah politicians for taking a hard-line position after Lebanese banks began abiding by a U.S. law that sanctions doing business with the Iran-backed Lebanese group. Authorities say dozens of bank accounts related to Hizbullah's organizations have been closed in recent weeks.

Saad Azhari, the head of BLOM bank, said no one should jump to conclusion as to who was behind the attack.

"We are interested in being a serious bank that serves the interests of all (Lebanese). We don't take measures to harm any one particular group," he told reporters at the scene.

He also said that no threats had been received by the bank prior to the attack.

The sounds of ambulance sirens were earlier heard in the area near the busy shopping districts of Hamra and Verdun.

An AFP correspondent saw almost all the entire glass facade of a branch of the BLOM Bank, one of the country's largest, blown out, with debris littering the ground.

The AFP correspondent also saw damaged cars near the scene of the blast before an army patrol arrived and kept reporters back.

Y.R.