A suicide bomber blew himself up in a passenger van in Beirut’s southern district of Choueifat on Monday, killing at least two people, the state news agency reported.
Interior Minister Marwan
Charbel said the suicide bomber was trying to reached the Hezbollah stronghold
of Dahya.
The bombing, which took
place during the evening rush hour in the Choueifat district, was the latest of
a series of attacks in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria.
The conflict has deeply
divided Lebanon along sectarian lines and helped fuel a surge in violence that
has rattled the already fragile country.
Lebanese TV stations
broadcast video showing the charred, mangled wreckage of the mini-bus and
pieces of flesh scattered on the pavement.
One security official
cited one of the wounded as saying a man blew himself up after boarding the
mini-bus and confirming that it was heading to a predominantly Shiite area in
southern Beirut. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to brief the media.
Choueifat is
traditionally a Druse neighborhood, but is adjacent to a Shiite area.
A series of deadly
bombings have targeted Shiite districts of Beirut’s southern suburbs in recent
months. The Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence in the districts,
and the attacks are believed to be retaliation for the Shiite group’s armed
intervention in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad.
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