icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
23 Aug, 2013 10:51

42 killed, more than 350 injured in twin explosions in Tripoli, Lebanon

Two simultaneous explosions have rocked the Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing up to 42 people and injuring 358.

One of the blasts is said to have rocked the area near the home of outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati, while the other hit the Salam Mosque in Mina, Naharnet reports. 

The Lebanese Health Ministry has said 42 and 358 injured in the two blasts. Earlier the Red Cross put the number of killed and injured at 29 and 500, respectively.

The area was cordoned off and ambulances rushed to the sites of explosions. Local TV footage and pictures from the scene showed buildings with their fronts damaged and vehicles ablaze. 

The blast outside the Salam Mosque left a crater measuring five meters wide and 2.5 meters deep, according to local LBCI News.



Miqati has cut short his family vacation to return to Lebanon. 

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosions so far. 

Former chief of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces Ashraf Rifi has called the blasts an attempt to ethnically divide Lebanon. Speaking to local MTV, he said that it is too soon to tell if the explosion was caused by a bomb or a booby-trapped car, Naharnet cited an independent media channel as reporting.

On August 15, a blast near the Hezbollah headquarters in Lebanese capital Beirut killed 27 people and injured 150. Sunni radicals claimed responsibility for that attack.

In June, a car bomb detonation near the same location injured 53 people.

People run to help outside one of two mosques hit by explosions in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, August 23, 2013. (Reuters/Omar Ibrahim)


Lebanese citizens stand in front of a severely damaged building as they gather outside al-Salam mosque, near the house of former Lebanese police chief Ashraf Rifi, at the site of a powerful explosion in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on August 23, 2013. (AFP Photo)


Lebanese citizens gather outside al-Taqwa mosque at the site of a powerful explosion in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on August 23, 2013. (AFP Photo)

Smoke is seen above people gathering outside a mosque on the site of a powerful explosion in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on August 23, 2013. (AFP Photo/Ibrahim Chalhoub)

Photo from www.youkal.net


Podcasts
0:00
23:13
0:00
25:0