Bir Hassan Death Toll Rises to 10, DNA Confirms al-Mghayyar One of Suicide Bombers
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr announced Thursday that DNA tests have confirmed that Palestinian national Nidal al-Mghayyar is one of the two suicide bombers who blew up two bomb-laden cars Wednesday in Bir Hassan.
“The DNA tests undergone by Nidal al-Mghayyar's father have matched the DNA of one of the suicide attackers,” state-run National News Agency quoted Saqr as saying.
A fake ID carrying al-Mghayyar's picture was found wednesday at the site of the blast. The Army Command later circulated the photo, describing al-Mghayyar as a “dangerous fugitive.”
The man's father consequently recognized the picture of his son and headed to an army intelligence post to give his testimony.
NNA described al-Mghayyar on Wednesday as a supporter of fugitive Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir.
Later on Wednesday, a number of citizens torched a house and properties belonging to Nidal's family in the southern town of al-Bissariyeh.
LBCI television said al-Mghayyar had "worked with his father in the business of bread distribution in al-Bissariyeh and the neighboring towns.”
Quoting high-ranking security sources, LBCI said he was “a Palestinian young man who had been living with his family since several years,” describing him as “very religious and a follower of the Salafist ideology.”
“He was attracted by the movement of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and he used to frequent the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque,” the fugitive cleric's former headquarters, the sources said, adding that “he took part in demonstrations and road-blocking protests.”
According to the same sources, al-Mghayyar had left Lebanon two months before the deadly Abra battle, which saw the Lebanese Army seize control of the Islamist cleric's security zone following fierce clashes.
After entering Syria, al-Mghayyar joined the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.
“Al-Asir had reportedly sent him to fight against Hizbullah in Qusayr” in Syria's Homs province, the security sources said.
LBCI said “at the time, the army circulated al-Mghayyar's photograph, describing him as a dangerous fugitive, before circulating the same picture on Wednesday” in the wake of the twin bombings.
Meanwhile, a health ministry source said Thursday that the toll from Wednesday's double suicide car bombing near an Iranian cultural center in Beirut's Bir Hassan has risen to 10.
"The death toll in the blasts has risen to 10 after the remains of an additional four people found at the site of the explosion were identified through DNA testing," the source told Agence France Presse.
On Wednesday, the health ministry had put the death toll at six, with 129 people injured in the attack.
A judicial source said work was still underway to identify the second suicide bomber.
The attack was claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a jihadist group inspired by al-Qaida.
The cultural center is located in the same neighborhood as the Iranian embassy, which was hit by a double bombing in November that killed 25 people and was also claimed by the Azzam Brigades.
The group said Wednesday's attack was to punish Hizbullah and Tehran for their role in the conflict in Syria.
Extremist groups have claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in recent months against areas considered strongholds of Hizbullah that have killed dozens of civilians.
20 February 2014, 17:36
119
torch the parents' house...who does that ? Oh yeah...Israel...
20 February 2014, 18:31
127
typical HA behavior? really? when did HA ever carry out vengeance on family members? even in the thickest of the war in the south, families of fighters of the SLA (south lebanon army) were a red line and were never harmed. not in the operations against SLA leaders, nor even after the war when israelis ran with their tail between their legs, leaving their henchmen behind.
actually, now that you speak of it, this is more a israeli thing. like "price tag" attacks where hysterical men wide side curls go and burn mosques and attack villagers.
20 February 2014, 18:40
108
i have become convinced that you are dishonest and here only to spew hatred and spit out propaganda. i will not waste my time anymore with you anonyme.
20 February 2014, 18:55
97
sure mooowaten seems not to knoow how people are coerced in dahiye into supporting hezbis... if you fail to show your support you are bullied and harassed... not to mention the private SR of hezbis who know everything on everyone...
but only blind people cannot see it... or pretend to ignore it for the sake of their propaganda....
20 February 2014, 18:08
00
Sometimes what they call suicide bomber may not be aware of what he is carrying or what they are up to. They may be sitting in the car innocently while somebody else trigers the explosion remotely...I cannot beleive that there are so many suicide bombers? Can you imagine how many such bombers have appeared or disappeard between: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine,Pakistan, Afghanistan etc....asif there is a factory for suicide bombers!!!!
20 February 2014, 18:11
109
There should be a law in lebanon. For each terrorist attack done by a palestinian, we kick 20,000 pals out of lebanon.
20 February 2014, 18:41
106
really guys?? how does punishing 20,000 innocents for the crime of 1 make any sense? this sounds like israeli mentality and is disgusting.
20 February 2014, 18:34
1111
this is condemnable, the family of the guy shouldnt be held accountable.
your concern for material damage is touching, but i think you would have been more credible if you also said a word about the ten dead caused by the explosion.
20 February 2014, 18:56
128
you guys justified this morning the killing of Abdul Rahman Diab, because his son is accused (not even found guilty) of a connection in the tripoli bombings. and you dare accuse hezbollah (without the slightest indication that hezbollah has anything to do with this), for material damage caused to the family of a confirmed bomber. disgustingly, and so obviously, biased.
20 February 2014, 18:38
88
who allowed you to accuse hezbollah? yalla run before i ask you for a source.
20 February 2014, 19:31
86
that is your opinion. which is one of those I have zero respect for.
20 February 2014, 18:57
86
who opposed their disarming? LOL hezbis... because it would mean they would have to do the same....
20 February 2014, 19:22
98
true jeff, but HA considers that securing the borders of lebanon is a defensive stance. it's not only about defending the villages that were being massacred and burnt, but also to prevent takfiris from surrounding the country and infiltrating it from all sides.
20 February 2014, 19:53
78
I dont think we can put HA in the same category as these suicide bombers. HA are no angels for sure, they have done a lot, but I think those were their orders, HA never acted on their own. For all their negative points, it is true they are disciplened warriors, it is true they gave the Israelis a bloody nose all the while their areas were getting the hell bombed out of them, in the south they didnt commit massacres on the SLA after the Israelies retreated even though they could have. They are not perfect, nor are they angels, but these suiciders come from a different planet, these are people that want to take us back to the dark ages. They are cold blooded reptiles that think nothing of blowing themselves up in crowded streets.
20 February 2014, 19:57
86
Dont think guys that this stops in HA areas, any area is a target, anyone who dosent subscribe to their twisted logic is a target. They are the lowest of the low, they are the scum of the earth. Unity guys, unity, I have had many shiite friends, and a shiite girlfriend whom I almost married, they are not bad people, its politics. No one should cheer a Lebanese area getting bombed, this is not right. As christians we should light a candle for the dead and pray for the injured. Unity my friends, unity.
20 February 2014, 20:16
65
Im only saying that these takfiris are the same crowd as the ones in Iraq, we all know what they did to the christians there and to the christians in Syria.
20 February 2014, 21:08
93
100% texas.
We stood by HA long enough. Time for HA to stand by the rest of the Lebanese by saying for example to Mamlouk "NO" you wont bomb and kill chateh.
Solution is defense strategy, as u say.
20 February 2014, 21:58
76
@-_Flamethrower_-, I have a copy of the Taef and nowhere in the text of the document does it state HA is exempt as you claim on another article. You may fabricate exemptions to your heart's content to suit your desire to justify your fantasy but it will never make HA weapons legitimate. If your copy of the Taef says something different then the one I have, please share it with the rest of us or stop your rampant truth twisting. It is simply dishonest and you know it.
20 February 2014, 22:46
67
I guess when @-_Flamethrower_- is caught red-handed deliberately spreading disinformation, he doesn't have the courage to admit it. What a shocker!
20 February 2014, 23:04
54
Yes of course but I really don't care about that. What is also predictable, is the no response whatsoever which clearly shows what type of character we are dealing with.
20 February 2014, 23:52
10
You guys are funny fiasco. In Dubai they started to sell tickets for space tourism and you still have religion problems in Beirut....loooololol just leave the country and meet the civilization..what a waist of time in Lebanon...
20 February 2014, 23:53
13
Nice excuse and dismissal but you're not off the hook. You should not be making statements you cannot backup esp. when you already know them to be false.
The below is not a university copy, stop dancing around the truth and tell it for once in your life instead.
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/lebanon/taif.htm
20 February 2014, 22:52
78
Extremism and hatred. It is quite disturbing what happens to people when they are so brainwashed that it is OK to just kill someone for their sect.
May all the victims rest in peace and may everyone wake up from their murderous rage filled trance.
20 February 2014, 23:07
78
anonymetexasusa, do I seem like someone who doesn't believe that the state is the only solution? How can I possibly live in the UK, a modern civilized society which I love, and not want the same for my own.
Let's hope the Lebanese, all Lebanese, are unified enough to achieve that goal.
21 February 2014, 00:52
73
No problem anony. I might have been a bit defensive and for that I apologise but honestly on naharnet you get attacked and accused sometimes just for saying "may all the victims rest in peace". Too much hate, anger and accusations.
The Lebanese Shia community want what everyone wants anony. Security, hope, dignity and the right to live freely. Surely these basics every normal citizen hopes for. I am not talking about politics and what politicians feed us and how they steer our emotions and fuel hate, but the regular person who is struggling to feed his or her kids and to afford decent health care for his or her family. Security, real security and a competent state. Everyone wants that and ultimately hopes for that, surely
