TYRE: Lebanese authorities have identified one of two suicide bombers who attacked an Iranian cultural center in Beirut this week as a radical Palestinian, a security source said Friday.
The news emerged as the toll from Wednesday’s double car bombing rose to 11, after a woman died of her wounds.
“One of the suicide bombers involved in the attack in Bir Hassan has been identified as Nidal Mughayer, a 29-year-old from Al-Bisariya,” in south Lebanon, the source said.
The army said he had been identified through DNA testing. Mughayer was a follower of cleric Ahmed Al-Assir, the security source said.
Assir has been at large since escaping fierce clashes between his supporters and the army in the southern city of Sidon last summer.
Some of his backers are believed to have fled to Syria after the clashes, and two were implicated in a double suicide bomb attack against the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in November.
News of Mughayer’s identity spread quickly to his predominantly Shiite home town with a small, mostly Palestinian population.
Some residents attacked Mughayer’s family home and set fire to several vehicles owned by the family, the source said.
Wednesday’s attack was claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a group inspired by Al-Qaeda that also claimed the November embassy bombing.
Beirut IDs bomber as radical Palestinian



