Three Killed in Hermel Suicide Explosion and Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon Claims Responsibility
A suicide attack targeted al-Aytam petrol station in the Bekaa town of Hermel on Saturday evening, killing at least three people and wounding 20 others.
The attack was claimed by the Syrian al-Qaida-linked group, al-Nusra Front in Lebanon.
"An explosion was heard near al-Mabarrat school which is located in the main road at the entrance of Hermel,” the state-run National News Agency said.
Al-Mabarrat school, an orphanage in the Bekaa town, assured that all orphans at the institution are all alive and doing well.
Caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil announced that three people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the blast.
Meanwhile, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told al-Manar television that at least four people were killed and more than 15 wounded, two or three of them in critical condition.
OTV said the four victims are Ibtissam al-Moussawi, Ali Alweh, Hassan Taha and a person whose family name in Fouani.
"We think it is a suicide attack," Charbel added.
He told LBCI television that a suicide bomber carried out the explosion using a Grand Cherokee car.
Later in the evening, the army confirmed that a suicide bomber blew himself up in a light grey colored Grand Cherokee vehicle.
"A military police unit and a number of experts arrived at the site of the explosion to inspect it and uncover the details behind the occurrence,” a communique released by the army said.
"Security forces have cordoned off the area.”
A statement released by a group called al-Nusra Front in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Amid the continuation of the crimes committed by Iran's party (Hizbullah) against our vulnerable people in beloved Syria, and amid its insistence on sending mercenaries to kill the Syrian people, we could only try to stop the party's massacres and respond in the same manner on its territories, hoping that this would make it reconsider its decisions,” a statement posted on the group's Twitter page said.
Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon said the attack was a “second suicide operation against a stronghold of Iran's party in Hermel.”
It reiterated its calls for “Sunnis in Lebanon to revolt against this oppressive junta.”
"Don't get frightened by its security aura because the party is weaker than it tries to show and these repetitive attacks on the same targets are proof of its fragility,” the statement added.
NNA described the last minutes leading to the explosion, saying a man driving a Grand Cherokee car approached al-Aytam petrol station, asking to fill up his vehicle with gas.
"He then blew himself up inside the car," it said.
The explosion, which took place around 6:00 pm after night had fallen, sparked a huge blaze that hindered the arrival of emergency services.
Al-Manar broadcast images of huge flames at the site of the attack.
“A total destruction was noticed at the site of the explosion and cars went up in flames. Blaze erupted in the petrol tanks of the neighboring gas station.”
A-Manar said efforts at the site of the explosion are now focused on searching for the bodies of any possible victims.
"Ambulance cars rushed to the site of the explosion as thick flames were seen,” radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) said.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr tasked concerned authorities to carry out the preliminary investigation and collect proofs and human remains from the scene of the explosion.
Meanwhile, Internal Security Forces called on citizens to allow ambulance vehicles and security forces to access the site of the explosion to ease the rescuing operations and the extinguishing of flames.
Relief forces in Hermel also urged citizens to stay away from the site of the explosion.
Following the attack, several roads were blocked in the Bekaa to protest the explosion.
"The Alaou clan blocked the road at the entrance of Hermel with burning tires after a family member was killed in today's explosion," LBCI said.
Saturday's blast comes less than a month after a car bombing also targeted Hermel, a Hizbullah stronghold, killing three person and wounding more than 26.
Meanwhile, at least four people were killed in a suicide bombing that rocked Beirut's southern suburbs also in January.
Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon had also claimed responsibility for both attacks.
That bombing was the fourth attack in Beirut's Dahieh neighborhood, also a Hizbullah bastion, since the party announced it was fighting in Syria.
As well as the Iranian embassy suicide attacks in November, the southern suburbs also suffered an August 15 bombing and a blast earlier the same month.
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