UN investigators visit scene of Hajj killing to lend “technical assistance”

 

UN experts have visited the scene of last week”s assassination of the operations chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Francois Hajj, a security source told The Daily Star on Tuesday. The experts, who are members of the United Nations Investigation Commission that is probing the slaying of former Premier Rafik Hariri, visited the crime scene this week to lend technical assistance to local authorities, the source said.

 

Chief Military Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mizher, who is overseeing the probe into Hajj”s killing, recently met in Monteverdi with the head of the UN probe team Serge Brammertz and his replacement, former Canadian Deputy Attorney General Daniel Bellemare, a judicial source said.

 

The UN experts” visit to the crime scene came at the request of the Lebanese government.

 

“Lebanese investigators require technical assistance to clean up fuzzy camera footage from the crime scene taken by nearby bank ATM cameras and to examine more thoroughly the explosive residue found at the scene,” the security source said.
 

Experts have determined that between 35 and 45 kilograms of TNT were used in the killing, the judicial source added.

 

A more thorough examination of explosive residue will identify the exact type of TNT used, the source said, adding that this may help pinpoint the country of origin of the explosives.

 

“Part of the radio receiver attached to the detonator has been recovered after a search of the nearby forest, which confirms the bomb was detonated by remote control,” the source said.

 

Authorities have also cleared two suspects who were believed to be the last to own the vehicle used in the attack. “The two men, it turns out, were only middle men and had sold it again to someone else; the car appears to have been sold several times,” the source said.