Majdal Anjar Cell Planned Attacks Against UNIFIL, Could Be Involved in Rocket Firing on Israel
Authorities continued to carry out raids in Majdal Anjar in search for more people having links with a four-member terrorist network whose questioning revealed that the men were planning attacks against UNIFIL.
Security sources told An Nahar newspaper in remarks published Monday that the four men”s questioning was still at its beginning. They said the cell”s leader Tareq Abdul Fattah Baidoun, is a biochemical student at a private university.
Baidoun”s brother Ahmed and two other Lebanese, who all hail from Majdal Anjar, were also arrested by the army on Saturday, according to An Nahar. However, al-Akhbar daily said Monday that in addition to Baidoun, the army arrested the network leader”s 60-year-old father and his two brothers.
An Nahar”s sources said the suspects belong to extremist groups and had been put under close watch lately. Investigation revealed that the network was plotting attacks against U.N. peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon, "but the investigation could reveal other things," the sources added.
As Safir daily said Baidoun, 21, is known as Abi Qusaiba. He was closely monitored following a contact that he made with a website belonging to the Battalions of Ziad Jarrah that had claimed responsibility for October”s rocket attack from southern Lebanon on northern Israel.
The newspaper said Baidoun told investigators at the defense ministry that explosive materials were hidden in three black suitcases at his parents” home in Majdal Anjar.
During the raid, the army found several machine guns, detonators and a computer through which he made contacts with foreign terrorist organizations. Sources also told An Nahar that bomb making manuals were discovered during the raid with bomb-sniffing dogs.
Well-informed sources told al-Akhbar that Baidoun could have contributed to transporting from the Bekaa to the south the rockets that were fired into Israel lately. However, a high-ranking security official said "nothing was proved yet."