ISF, army step up security measures across Beirut

 

The Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces (ISF) tightened security across the Lebanese capital on Wednesday, one day after a bombing that targeted a US Embassy vehicle in the Beirut suburb of Karantina. The bombing claimed the lives of three people, all Lebanese, and further rattled the already troubled country.

 

The Lebanese Army and the ISF erected checkpoints across Beirut and searched suspicious vehicles, resulting in heavy traffic congestion.  

 

The bombing was the first such attack against American interests in Lebanon since the mid-1980s and came during a visit to the region by US President George W. Bush.

 

In separate developments, a Lebanese military prosecutor issued arrest warrants Tuesday accusing 10 jailed Al-Qaeda suspects of planning to carry out terrorist attacks, possessing illegal weapons and using forged identity cards, judicial officials said.

 

Military prosecutor Rashid Mezher also issued arrest warrants naming 10 other suspected Al-Qaeda members who are at large, the officials added.

 

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, did not say when the 10 suspects were detained or give their nationalities.
 

Since last year”s three-month battle between the Lebanese Army and militant extremists in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, dozens of people have been detained on suspicion of having ties to Al-Qaeda or the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam group that fought at the camp.

 

In June, Lebanese troops discovered three vehicles rigged with explosives during a raid on a hideout in eastern Lebanon. The two cars and a van were found near the town of Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley a day after security forces captured three foreign militants in a nearby area.

 

The National News Agency said the 10 detained suspects were among 30 who were charged with joining an armed group with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks, possessing weapons and explosives, forging identity cards and giving refuge to wanted criminals.

 

The officials said Mezher, the military prosecutor, will question the 10 with their lawyers present beginning next week.