Explosions Target Hotel, Liquor Store in Tyre
Twin bomb blasts targeted a hotel and a liquor store in the southern city of Tyre at dawn Wednesday, causing extensive damage but no casualties.
The first explosion ripped through a restaurant of the three-story Queen Elissa hotel which lies on the coast around 5:00 am. Several vehicles were damaged in the blast.
Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) said a UNIFIL official was at the hotel when the bomb went off.
A similar explosion tore through the liquor shop a few minutes later.
But Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied that UNIFIL was the target of the explosions, saying the attacks were perpetrated by certain parties who oppose the trade of liquor in the area.
A military expert said the explosives that targeted the hotel weighed around 3 kilograms while the bomb that hit the liquor shop was 1 kilo.
LBC TV network reported that security forces have a suspect and are trying to find him.
Two liquor shops were targeted in southern villages in July and others have been forced to shut down.
There have also been several attacks against U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon in the past years, most recently in July, when a roadside bomb blew up next to a U.N. convoy carrying French peacekeepers.
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