Suicide bomb blast kills one south of Beirut: minister

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt inside a public minibus south of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Monday, killing at least one person, the interior minister said.

“A man wearing an explosive belt boarded a public minibus in Choueifat and blew himself up,” Marwan Charbel told Lebanon’s Mayadeen television channel.

He said at least one person was killed in the blast, but it was unclear if that was in addition to the suicide bomber.

Choueifat lies south of Beirut, not far from the suburbs of the city, which have been targeted in multiple bomb attacks in recent months.

It is home to a mixed Christian and Druze population.

Footage from the scene broadcast on Lebanese television showed the mangled remains of a vehicle surrounded by shards of glass and other material in the middle of the road.

The blast comes after at least 4 people were killed in a suicide bombing on Saturday in the eastern town of Hermel, where the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has widespread report.

Lebanon has been hit by a string of bomb attacks in recent months, many targeting areas sympathetic to Hezbollah which has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against an uprising.

Jihadist groups believed to be linked to those fighting in Syria have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, saying they will continue for as long as Hezbollah fights in Syria.

But while the blasts have apparently targeted the group, the victims of the attacks have been almost exclusively civilians. – Rappler.com