FBI Agents to Beirut to Probe Karantina Bombing

 
The U.S. said a joint team of agents from the State Department”s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the FBI would travel from Washington to Lebanon to investigate the Karantina bombing.

 

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was still unclear who was behind Tuesday”s attack, but stressed that the U.S. would not back down on its support for Lebanon as a result.

 

The State Department said that “preliminary evidence” indicates that a damaged U.S. embassy car was the target of the bombing.

 

The blast left three young men dead and wounded 26 people, including the Lebanese driver of the embassy car and an American passer-by on a brief visit to the country.

 

McCormack said the U.S. car appeared to be the likely target because he “had not heard of any other potential targets in the vicinity” of the attack.

 

He added that the U.S. embassy has now taken “the appropriate security precautions” while FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) agents and other security were sent from Washington to join the investigation.

 

McCormack also warned any individual or group would “be sorely mistaken” if they thought they could intimidate the United States or the Lebanese government.