Terrorist Cell Planned to Assassinate Qahwaji
The terrorist cell arrested in Tripoli had planned to assassinate Army Chief Jean Qahwaji who was then the 10th brigade commander, Pan Arab al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The Lebanese army said troops have arrested members of a terrorist group allegedly involved in recent bombings in northern Lebanon.
Sunday”s statement said several people from a "terrorist cell" were arrested for their involvement in the Aug. 13 and Sept. 29 bombings in the port city of Tripoli.
The newspaper said, citing security sources, that the cell members admitted to planning an attack on the Internal Security Forces (ISF) headquarters in Beirut”s Ashrafiyeh district.
They also said, according to al-Hayat, that they had planted explosives on the highway leading to the headquarters of the Tenth Brigade at the military base in the Qleiat military airport.
One of the arrested suspects reportedly said the planned attack was aimed at targeting Qahwaji”s convoy.
The explosives were discovered in June by chance and diffused, the sources told al-Hayat.
They said two more suspects were arrested in addition to the three others who were detained near the southern Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp for alleged connections with Fatah al-Islam terrorist group.
Last year, the army fought a 15-week battle with the al-Qaida inspired Fatah al-Islam in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared that left 400 people dead, including 168 soldiers.
Al-Hayat reported security agencies had took photos of Abdul Ghani Jawhar, the leader of the terrorist cell who is still at large, in the site of the attack in Tal square in Tripoli minutes before the Sept. 29 bus blast which killed four soldiers and three civilians.
A similar attack on Aug. 13 killed 14 people, including nine soldiers and a child.
Jawhar had bought 50 kilograms of explosives from Ain al-Hilweh and transported them to al-Baddawi camp, according to the newspaper.
Two wanted Fatah al-Islam members identified as Ousama al-Shehabi and Mohammed Awad reportedly bought the explosives and used them for the second Tripoli bombing.