Naharnet

Bomb-Laden Car Driver 'Covered Head with Hat', Madi Says No Suspects Identified in Hasan Murder Probe

The latest investigations into the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan have revealed that the driver of the booby-trapped car used in the attack had “covered his head with a hat” in order to prevent security cameras installed in the area from taking footage of his face, a media report said on Friday, as State Prosecutor Hatem Madi said the possibilities "have been narrowed down.”

“One of the culprits of the Ashrafiyeh blast that killed martyr Major General Wissam al-Hasan parked the booby-trapped car – a Toyota RAV4 carrying no other passengers – on Ibrahim al-Monzer Street," LBCI television reported.

"He then stepped out of the car, wearing a jacket with a popped collar and covering his head with a hat,” LBCI added.

The TV network quoted security sources as saying that investigators have not yet managed to identify the aforementioned person and that they are analyzing other footage in a bid to achieve some progress.

The sources also denied that investigators have interrogated a journalist whose name has been linked to the case.

Earlier on Friday, Prosecutor Madi said the “possibilities in the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Major General Wissam al-Hasan have been narrowed down.”

He added to Turkey's Anatolia News Agency that “no suspects have yet been identified.”

“The investigations are going ahead at a good pace and they are taking their natural course,” he said.

The investigations have managed to narrow down the possibilities and the investigators will soon complete analyzing the evidence obtained from the crime scene, he revealed.

Madi refused to comment however on media claims that some “known individuals, such as Hizbullah security official Salim Ayyash, were present at the crime scene.”

Ayyash is among the four Hizbullah members accused of being involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut.

Madi added that he has not yet received the FBI team report on Hasan's crime scene.

An FBI team had headed to Lebanon in the wake of the assassination to examine the scene.

Analysis of its findings are being conducted in the United States.

Hasan was killed in a car bomb in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district on October 19.


Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/60100