Twin bombings rock Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut

Lebanese army and civilians gather near the site of a twin suicide attack in Burj al-Barajneh, southern Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015 that struck a Shiite suburb killed and wounded dozens, according to a Lebanese official. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Twin suicide bombings rocked a busy shopping street Thursday in a Beirut stronghold of Lebanon’s Shia movement Hezbollah, killing 41 people and wounding more than 200 in the worst such attack in years.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour, speaking from the scene on a street of shops where vendors also sell from stalls, said many of the injured were in serious condition.

The army said the body of a “third terrorist” was found at the scene of one of the blasts after he apparently failed to blow himself up. The attacks were the deadliest to hit a Hezbollah stronghold since the group entered the conflict in neighboring Syria in 2013 in support of President Bashar al-Assad, according to AFP.

Police said two men on foot set off suicide vests Thursday 12th November in Burj al-Barajneh, a largely impoverished suburb of the city home to a mostly Shiite Muslim population. The neighborhood is bordered by the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp.

One security source told the Associated Press that the first bomber detonated his explosive vest outside a Shia mosque, while the second blew himself up inside a nearby bakery.

The attack was quickly claimed by the extremists Islamic State group (ISIS), which is fighting Hezbollah militants in neighboring Syria and Iraq but has not had a recognized affiliate in Lebanon. In a statement, ISIS said the aim of the attack was to kill Shia Muslims. Local media identified the three suicide bombers, saying two of them were Palestinians and one Syrian. Though its still not possible to verify ISIS’s claim of responsibility.

While prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned the attacks as “unjustifiable” and called on Lebanon’s rival factions to unite against “plans to create strife”, as he announced Friday 13th a national day of mourning, according to local media.

Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern Beirut were the target of a series of bombings in 2013 and 2014 mostly claimed by Sunni jihadist militants -who denounced Hezbollah’s decision to send fighters to neighboring Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.