Suleiman Condemns Tripoli Bus Incident, North Prosecutor Orders Arrest of Gunmen

President Michel Suleiman on Saturday condemned an armed attack on a bus carrying Jabal Mohsen residents that left at least six people wounded earlier in the day, as a judicial warrant for the arrest of the culprits was issued.

Suleiman also held phone talks with Army chief General Jean Qahwaji and Internal Security Forces acting chief Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous to inquire about the incident's details and the measures taken by security forces to contain the situation, according to the National News Agency.

The president called on the relevant authorities to “pursue the perpetrators and refer them to the judiciary.”

Meanwhile, NNA said North Lebanon's prosecutor Judge Omar Hamze issued a judicial warrant ordering all security agencies to conduct the necessary investigations in order to identify and arrest the attackers

At least six Jabal Mohsen residents were wounded when a van carrying 14 passengers came under gunfire at al-Mallouleh intersection in Tripoli earlier on Saturday, according to NNA.

"The gunmen opened fire at the bus and then beat some of the workers traveling in it. All nine Alawites had either gunshot or beating wounds and were taken to hospital for treatment," a security official told Agence France Presse.

Earlier on Saturday, Arab Democratic Party spokesman Abdul Latif Saleh told al-Jadeed television that “14 workers from Jabal Mohsen were kidnapped and shot in Bab al-Tabbaneh as they were returning in a bus from their workplaces.”

On Wednesday, sporadic sniper gunfire returned to Tripoli and tensions surged after gunmen shot and wounded four Jabal Mohsen residents in the city despite an army security plan that had managed to end seven days of clashes on Monday.

Long-running tensions between the rival districts were stoked further after the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau summoned ex-MP Ali Eid -- leader of the Arab Democratic Party, Jabal Mohsen's main political and armed force --for interrogation in the case of the deadly twin bombings that hit two Sunni mosques in the city in August.

On October 14, seven people involved in the August bombings were charged, including three in custody. The majority are from Jabal Mohsen. Forty-five people were killed and over 800 wounded in the twin bombings.

The Arab Democratic Party has denied any involvement in the attacks and stressed that the suspects are not members of the party while slamming media leaks attributed to the Intelligence Bureau.

On Thursday, the Islamic Alawite Council noted that “it is unjust to accuse the entire Alawite sect" of the bombings, noting that "this cannot be accepted by any Muslim."

And in remarks published Thursday in As Safir newspaper, Arab Democratic Party top official Rifaat Eid, Ali's son, declared that the accusations against his father are not based on any facts and that they are part of a Saudi Arabian agenda to settle scores with Syria.