Army Searches for Culprits behind Bqaa Sifrin Attack

Lebanese army units carried out extensive raids in north Lebanon in search of perpetrators involved in the armed attack against an army checkpoint in the Dinniyeh town of Bqaa Sifrin that left one soldier killed and another wounded.

“The army is running investigations to uncover the circumstances and the end of the terrorist attack at this particular timing. We do not deal lightly with this aggression. We consider it dangerous. It puts the army in front of the duty to increase readiness to prevent terrorists from achieving their goals to spread chaos in Lebanon starting from the north area,” a military source told al-Joumhouria daily on condition of anonymity.

“The army gave directions to its troops to take the highest level of readiness and alert, to uncover the perpetrators, nail them and bring them to justice. We will not allow terrorists to inflict harm on our security we will track them to their hideouts,” added the source.

Another security source told the daily that the army has already “detained seven suspects linked to the Islamic State organization.”

The source slammed reports circulating in media outlets which claimed that the attack was a reaction to a raid carried out by the army troops in the town, he said: “The army is determined to resolve the case.”

On Monday, unknown gunmen attacked an Infantry Brigade in the town of Bqaa Sifrin killing Amer Mustafa al-Mohammed and wounding Abdul Kader Naaman.