15 Charged with Plotting Attacks on Army, Having Ties with Fatah Al-Islam
Lebanon”s military prosecutor on Wednesday charged 15 people with belonging to a terrorist organization and plotting attacks on the army, a judicial source said.
"Judge Saqr Saqr has charged 15 people with belonging to an armed group to stage terrorist attacks with the aim of killing soldiers," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"One of those in custody had planted a bomb which did not detonate in a military convoy," the source added, without giving further details.
The suspects, who include Lebanese and two Palestinians, were also charged with "having ties" to Al-Qaida-inspired group Fatah al-Islam, the source said.
"We suspect they were coordinating their acts with a Fatah al-Islam ring based in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp," near the southern coastal town of Sidon, the source added.
Only five of the suspects are in custody. The rest were charged in absentia.
If convicted, they could face the death penalty.
In 2007, Fatah al-Islam fought fierce battles with the Lebanese army at Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon.
The fighting killed 400 people, including 168 soldiers, and displaced some 30,000 refugees from the camp, which was leveled in the fighting.
There have been widespread fears that since the battles the militant group has switched its base to Ain al-Helweh, the largest of Lebanon”s 12 refugee camps.