A suicide bomber blew up his car in Beirut on Monday night near an army checkpoint, killing a security officer and wounding several people watching the soccer World Cup in a nearby cafe.
Security forces have been on high alert since a suicide bomber killed one person and wounded 37 near the Syrian border on Friday last week in an attack that narrowly missed Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s General Security department.
One security source said before Monday night’s explosion that security forces were hunting for two potential suicide bombers in the Lebanese capital.
Lebanon has suffered a wave of sectarian violence linked to the war in Syria.
“What is happening in Iraq isn’t far from what is happening in Lebanon, but Lebanon will not let ISIL [Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant] spread here,” lawmaker Ali Ammar, from the Shiite militant and political group Hezbollah, told al-Manar television.
Monday’s explosion, shortly before midnight, killed the bomber and wounded 19 people, Lebanon’s civil defense force said.
An emergency worker at the nearby Sahel hospital said it treated 11 slightly wounded people.
Two security sources yesterday said that a member of the security services had also been killed when the Mercedes car packed with 25kg of explosives detonated.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency identified him as Abdul Kareem Hodrej, an officer in the General Security forces.
TV footage from the scene showed the blackened wreckage of a car, surrounded by damaged vehicles.
Windows in nearby buildings were shattered by the blast, which occurred in a mainly Shiite Muslim district of southern Beirut inhabited by supporters of a Hezbollah-allied group, Amal.
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