BEIRUT: A “terrorist” cell said to be behind three bomb attacks in Lebanon was seeking revenge for the army’s victory over an extremist group last year, a security official said yesterday.
“The cell is linked to Fatah Al-Islam and some of its members came from that group,” the official said, referring to an Al-Qaeda-inspired militia, which fought a 15-week battle last year against the army in a Palestinian refugee camp.
“So far the army is the sole target of attacks mounted by this cell and the operations they were planning target the army and internal security forces,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
He said the cell, whose members were arrested Sunday, was to blame for an attack on a military bus in the northern city of Tripoli on Sept. 29, when four soldiers and three civilians were killed.
It was also responsible for an attack in the port city in mid-August, which killed 14 people, including nine soldiers and a child, and the murder of a soldier in a bomb blast in Akkar in May.
“Documents seized in two places searched by a joint force — in Tripoli and Akkar — show that the army and internal security forces were also their next target,” he said.
The As-Safir newspaper reported that the cell was planning an attack on a Lebanese Army bus and on internal security forces headquarters in Beirut.
The Lebanese Army ousted Fatah Al-Islam fighters from the Nahr Al-Bared camp near Tripoli in September last year after 15 weeks of fighting that left 400 people dead. At least 168 soldiers were among the dead.
However, Fatah Al-Islam chief Shaker Al-Abbasi managed to flee and has vowed revenge attacks against the army.
