By NNN-KUNA,
Beirut : At least six people died and more than 30 others others suffered injuries in a fiery blast that targeted a bus boarding Lebanese Army troops in northern Lebanon early on Monday, according to official sources.
A senior military source, contacted by this correspondent of Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), confirmed that the bomb that blew up in the morning rush-hour at a bus station in the district of Al-Busas in the south of the city of Tripoli, was packed into a Renault car and that it blew up at around 8 a.m., targeting a mini bus boarding Lebanese Army troops.
A security source told the Kuwaiti news agency that medics who hurried to the scene transported the victims to the city hospitals. The source added that inspectors were also at the scene, initating investigations and interrogations to try determine cricumstances of the bloody incident.
Official sources said six people died and at least 30 others were wounded in the fiery blast that targeted the bus boarding the troops in the port city.
The explosion ripped through the 24-seat bus that was passing, according to the Lebanese television station, NBN. The TV said the bomb-laden car was hurled many meters away due to the power of the blast.
Army troops sealed off the scene of the explosion that also damaged nearby buildings and scores of cars. The ground was littered with shreds of metal and pools of blood and helmeted army soldiers toting automatic guns carried out immediate security precautions around the scene.
Six weeks ago, Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, witnessed an identical bomb attack that took the lives of 15 people including 10 army soldiers.
The ancient coastal city has also witnessed armed fighting pitting local militias. The fighting ended and the top leaders held reconciliation talks that were capped with a major settlement to spare the city further infighting, that had largely pitted followers of the influential Sunni leader Saad Al-Hariri against gunmen loyal to Ali Eid, a local Alawite notable.
The Lebanese Army, nearly a year ago, engaged in a ferocious fighting against Islamic militants who were entrenched in the refugee camp of Nahr Al-Bared just north of the city.
The army crushed the militants in the summer-long fighting, and officials declared that the authorities foiled a plot by the extremists to establish a self-styled “Islamic emirate.” The militants were said to have been headed by Shaker Al-Absi, a notorious shadowy activist, with criminal records in some Arab countries.
The gunmen were believed to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda that repeatedly made threats against the Lebanese authorities.