Lebanon Detains Top Suspect In Suicide Bombings Near Iran Centers

Lebanese security forces have detained whom they claim to be the Sunni militant suspected of recruiting suicide bombers and assembling car bombs used in the suicide bombings near Iranian cultural center in Beirut and an earlier suicide bombing at the gate of the nearby Iranian embassy, Reuters reported today.

The security forces said Hassan Abu Afleh, arrested in Beirut, is suspected of being a leading figure in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the group that claimed responsibility for Wednesday's twin suicide attack near the Iranian cultural center that killed eight people. The same group said it was behind an attack in November on the Iranian embassy.

File photo: Lebanese soldiers secure the area near the Iranian cultural center at the site of an explosion in the southern suburbs of Beirut, 19 February 2014. (Sharif Karim/Reuters)

Bombs Kill 4 Near Iranian Cultural Center in Beirut

Two suicide bombers blew up their cars Wednesday trying to hit an Iranian cultural center in the dominantly-Shia Bir Abed district in southern Beirut, killing at least four people and wounding more than a hundred, Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility. (AP, 19 February)

The group, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, said on its Twitter account that the “invasion of the Iranian cultural center’ was in “retaliation for Iran's party fighting along the criminal regime in Syria,” probably referring to Lebanese Hezbollah.

“We will continue to target Iran and its party in Lebanon through their security, political and military offices until Hezbollah fighters withdraw from Syria and scores of Islamic detainees are released from Lebanese jails,” Abdullah Azzam Brigades group said in its statement. (AP, 19 February)

Photo credit: the scene of suicide bombing near Iranian cultural center in Beirut, 19 February 2014. (csmonitor)