Charbel Quoting Military Expert: Grenade Caused Antelias Blast

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Thursday quoted the military expert probing the Antelias blast as saying that the explosion was caused by a Western-made defensive hand grenade.

A statement issued by the premiership following Thursday’s cabinet session said “the interior minister demonstrated the summary of a report prepared by the military expert tasked with probing the Antelias incident.”

“In line with his announcement during the previous cabinet session, the minister reiterated that the incident resulted from the explosion of a Western-made defensive hand grenade that killed the person carrying it and his companion who was next to him,” said the statement.

Last week Charbel said “the shrapnel from the dozens of iron balls (wrapped around the explosive) that were found on the ground reveal that the bomb was prepared to act as an explosive device.”

He also noted that his statements the blast were based on “preliminary security information”, stressing that the relevant judicial authorities would have the final say.

Two men were killed in a parking lot in Antelias on Thursday when explosives they were handling detonated.

Charbel’s latest announcement on the cause of the blast contests the charges pressed Friday by Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr against unknown individuals suspected of being involved in the blast.

The suspects are charged with taking part, with the victims, Hassan Nassar and Ihsan Diya, in “preparing a bomb and detonating it in a parking lot in Antelias; causing material damage; sabotaging others’ property and a number of cars, and wounding a number of people.”