Arrest Warrants Issued against Maamoura Car Bomb Suspects

A military examining magistrate issued on Wednesday arrest warrants against a Lebanese and a Turkish national for preparing cars rigged with explosives to detonate them in different areas of Lebanon, including Beirut's southern suburbs.

Mohammed al-Atrash, who is a minor, and Turkish citizen Mohammed Sabaheddine Ozdelmir have been in custody for preparing the booby-trapped cars and parking them in different residential areas for the purpose of blowing them up.

One of the explosives-rigged vehicles has been found this month in al-Maamoura district of Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold.

The explosives were defused before the suspects were able to blow up the car.

Judge Fadi Sawan issued the warrants against them in addition to four other fugitives from al-Atrash family.

The identities of the rest of the 14-member network are not known but they include an Iraqi explosives expert known as Abu Abdullah. The remaining members are Syrians.

Al-Atrash and Ozdelmir, whose mother is Lebanese, have admitted during their questioning that Omar al-Atrash was part of the terrorist cell.

Al-Atrash, a resident of the northeastern border town of Arsal, was killed when his car exploded earlier this month.

Arsal residents were quick to bury him after claiming that he was killed in a rocket attack on his vehicle in an area that separates Arsal and the Syrian border.

Security forces had raised doubt about the claim. Sources had said that the residents prevented police from examining al-Atrash's body or open a probe into his murder.

They said al-Atrash likely died when the booby-trapped vehicle that he was driving accidentally exploded.