Lebanon arrests 11, including seven Syrians, over Beirut suicide bombings
Islamic State attackers originally hoped to target hospital, authorities claim
“The detained include seven Syrians and two Lebanese, one of them a [would-be] suicide bomber and the other a trafficker who smuggled them across the border from Syria,” Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq told a news conference on Sunday.
The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attacks which hit a busy shopping street in Burj al-Barajneh, a suburb where the Shiite movement Hezbollah is popular.
“The whole suicide bombing network and its supporters were arrested in the 48 hours following the explosion,” Mashnuq said, calling the arrests “an extraordinary achievement”.
He said the seven Syrians were detained in a Palestinian refugee camp located in Burj al-Barajneh and a flat in the capital’s eastern district of Ashrafieh that had been used to prepare the explosive belts.
READ MORE: Beirut carnage: 41 dead as Islamic State suicide bombers target Hezbollah bastion
Security forces arrested the Lebanese would-be suicide attacker in the northern port city of Tripoli after he had failed to detonate his suicide belt, Mashnuq said.