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Wednesday, April 22, 12:48:36 [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, [8], 9, 10 ]

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Date Posted: 10:19:25 08/23/13 Fri
Author: WhizzbangOfAKnowledgeDaemon
Subject: Mebbe... 'E's finally dead?

One can only hope.

Deadly blasts rock northern Lebanon

August 23, 2013 8:15AM ET

Explosions hit two Tripoli mosques, reportedly killing at least 27 and injuring hundreds



People run to help after one of the blasts that hit Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Friday, killing or injuring dozens of worshippers at two mosques.Omar Ibrahim/Reuters



Two explosions killed at least 27 people and injured hundreds Friday in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, according to the Lebanese health minister.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, and heavy black smoke covered the sky. Television footage showed crushed cars with their windows smashed. Some cars were burning. Several people ran through the streets carrying a woman whose face was obscured by blood.

Two bodies could be seen on the ground, and apartment windows were smashed.

Preliminary estimates from the health minister reported around 350 people injured in the explosions.

The blasts went off near two mosques, which were filled with people on the Muslim day of prayer. A gun battle then broke out nearby between Jabal Mohsen, which supports Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and the anti-Assad group Bab al-Tabbaneh.

The blasts come amid rising tension in Lebanon stemming from Syria's civil war, which has sharply polarized the country along sectarian and political lines.

Tripoli has seen clashes between Sunnis and Alawites, a Shiite sect to which Assad belongs.

The first bomb went off near the al-Taqwa Mosque in the city's Abu Ali Square as worshippers were exiting after Friday afternoon prayers.

The second bomb went off outside the al-Salam Mosque in the Mina area of central Tripoli.

Sheik Salem Rafei, a Salafi cleric opposed to Lebanon's armed Shiite Hezbollah group, was praying at al-Taqwa. His condition is unknown.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Sidon in Lebanon, said that the explosions took place five minutes apart and that ambulances were on the scene.

Attacks have become common in the past few months against Shiite strongholds in Lebanon, particularly after Hezbollah began openly participating in Syria's civil war, but attacks against Sunni strongholds have been rare.

Khodr described Tripoli as "volatile," citing a series of clashes between armed Lebanese groups in the city. The army has been heavily deployed in the area since June 2012.

"This is a volatile city in Lebanon. This is a place which has witnessed clashes between supporters of the Syrian government and opponents of the Syrian government [and] Lebanese factions exchanging fire on many occasions over the past year," she said.

She said the latest attacks were signiicant "because they targeted a Sunni Muslim mosque at a time of heightening sectarian tensions in Lebanon, just a week after a Shiite neighborhood in southern Beirut was hit by a huge explosion.

"So you can imagine how there is a lot of fear. [Residents of Tripoli] are worried. There are reports that there are gunshots being heard in the city. So a very dangerous development at a very volatile time for this country."

Al Jazeera and wire services

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