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Tag: car bombing

  • Beirut Car Bomb Kills Prominent Politician

    The nation of Lebanon is still reeling from the latest in a series of politically-motivated terrorist bombings. Early Friday a car bomb exploded in Beirut’s commercial and banking district. About 132 pounds of explosives were believed to have been detonated at the scene. In the aftermath, 71 people were reportedly injured and 5 were killed. Mohammad Chatah, 62, was determined to be among the deceased.

    Chatah was a prominent Sunni politician and known for his unabashed criticism of Hezbollah and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. He was reportedly headed to a meeting of the March 14th coalition held at the mansion of ex-premier Saad Hariri. Hariri’s own father, Rafiq Hariri, was the victim of a terrorist bombing, having died mere blocks away from Friday’s chaotic scene.

    Members of the March 14th coalition have implied that enemies in Damascus and the organization Hezbollah are responsible for the bombing: “…The criminal is the same, he who is thirsty for the blood of Syrians… he and his Lebanese allies”.

    Saad Hariri also laid cryptic blame at doorstep of March 14th coalition enemies, saying the bombing was the fault of, “…those who are hiding from international justice and who have spread the regional fire to the (Lebanese) nation… and who killed Rafiq Hariri”.”

    Despite what Chatah’s surviving allies believe, the organization’s enemies have thus far refused to admit to any possible role in the bombing. A statement from Hezbollah called the bombing a threat to national unity. Syrian leaders denied the, “wrong and arbitrary accusations.” So far, no one has come forward to take credit for the car bombing.

    The violence is symbolic of an ongoing power struggle in the region. Lebanese citizens are becoming increasingly divided over the conflict in neighboring Syria. Some fear it might not be long before Lebanon is thrown back into a level of violence echoing the civil war of decades past.

    Image via Associated Press Youtube

  • AQAP Stages Suicide Car Bombing, Kills 38 Yemenis

    The AP via USA Today reported earlier today that al-Qaeda militants in Yemen launched a coordinated attack on a military barracks in the southern part of the country called Shabwa province. 38 soldiers were killed in the attacks and dozens of others were wounded.

    Yemeni defense official Maj. Mohammed Nasser, speaking about the attacks, said that the soldiers were caught unprepared, and that Shabwa Province is widely known to be an al-Qaeda stronghold. The attacks began as militants tried to storm three military encampments in Maysaa, Kamp, and al-Ain. At Kamp, the guards outside the barracks were overpowered and a suicide car bomb was driven inside; most of the casualties occurred when this first bomb detonated.

    At al-Ain, ground-based infantry fighting was continuing to occur throughout the morning, and a second car bomb was detonated outside the barracks.

    The attack seems to have had a dual purpose: Nasser reported that although the militants lost eight jihadists in the assault, they gained six hostages in the form of seized soldiers and five unspecified military vehicles.

    Yemeni authorities have been waging war against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, because officials in Washington consider it to be the deadliest and most dangerous offshoot of the al-Qaeda brand. AQAP has recently been orchestrating a series of attacks on the military and has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of a variety of officials.

    These latest attacks are the largest yet made against the Yemeni military, and they come in the wake of warnings from Sanaa that more al-Qaeda attacks are on the way. In response to the continued attacks on Yemeni security forces, the United States stepped up the drone war efforts.

    The AP also reported that the AQAP franchise had claimed responsibility for several foiled bomb plots against US citizens, including one involving an underwear bomb on an airline and another plot to hide mail bombs in toner printer cartridges.

    [Image via a brief YouTube video of an Al-Jazeera report on AQAP]