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Released Video Shows Moment of Explosion in Bir Hassan

The Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television aired on Wednesday afternoon a video showing the moment the explosion took place in the Beirut neighborhood of Bir Hassan.

The TV channel explained that the video was retrieved from a security camera placed near the scene of the explosion.

The footage shows a water tank blocking the passage in the area, preventing a suicide attacker from reaching the Iranian embassy in Beirut's southern suburbs.

The attacker's car was rigged with 50 kilograms of explosives and detonated 10 meters away, a security official said.

At least 23 people were killed and more than 145 others were wounded in a twin blast that took place on Tuesday morning near the Iranian Embassy in the neighborhood of Bir Hassan in Beirut's southern suburbs.

A security official said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle that carried two kilograms of explosives. He blew himself up at the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility.

Less than two minutes later, the second suicide attacker driving a car rigged with 50 kilograms of explosives struck about 10 meters away, the official said.

The al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the bombings, according to the Twitter page of a cleric linked to the group.

"The Abdullah Azzam brigades - the Hussein bin Ali cells - are behind the attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut," Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the group's religious guide, posted on Twitter.

The group threatened to continue its activities if Hizbullah does not withdraw its fighters from Syria.


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