15 killed in twin blasts in Beirut

Beirut  : Twin bombings Tuesday in Lebanon’s capital Beirut rocked Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs near the Iranian embassy, leaving at least 15 people dead and 50 injured.

According to the state-run National News agency (NNA) a suicide bomber blew himself up in a parking lot near the embassy at 10.15 a.m. followed by another suicide bomber who blew a bobby-trapped car near the embassy, Xinhua reported.

A local security source estimated the weight of the explosive materials used in the explosion to be around 100 kg of TNT.

Al Mayadeen TV reported that civil defence teams managed to put off the huge fire that erupted due to the explosions and is working on rescuing people who were trapped in the homes.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ghadanfar Roknabadi and sent him condolences for those killed.

A booby trapped car bomb had exploded Aug 15 in the Rouweiss neighbourhood in the southern suburbs killing 15 people and injuring more than 150 others.

A twin car bombing targeted two mosques in the northern port city of Tripoli Aug 23 leaving 47 dead and more than 350 others injured.

Both bombings were related to the Syrian crisis and the involvement of Lebanese political factions, particularly Hezbollah in the ongoing fighting in the neighbouring country.

Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman has called on all Lebanese to respect the official policy of disassociation adopted by the government, and refrain from getting involved in the Syrian crisis.