Turkey to Extradite Lebanese Suspect Linked to Sidon Bombing

After a bombing attack targeted a Palestinian member of the Hamas group in the southern city of Sidon on January 14, Turkey is expected to extradite a Lebanese suspect involved in the bombing after reportedly fleeing into Istanbul following the assault, pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Monday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri has contacted the Turkish authorities for cooperation in extraditing the suspect, and Turkey will expectantly hand him over either on Monday or Tuesday, according to the daily.

Turkey announced that one of its intelligence services managed to arrest the suspect last Friday.

Al-Hayat added that unnamed ministerial sources have affirmed the arrest, saying the suspect hails from the Chouf area of Iqlim al-Kharroub southeast of the capital, but lives in Beirut.

High-level contacts are still underway between Beirut and Amsterdam in the Netherlands to ascertain whether the second assassination mastermind was in the Dutch territory, added the sources.

On January 14, a Palestinian member of Hamas, identified as Mohammed Hamdan, survived an attempt on his life after a bomb planted in his car detonated and wounded him.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the bombing or why Hamdan was targeted.

Hamas in a statement blamed Israel for the "criminal" act that wounded Hamdan in his leg.

It is not clear what role Hamdan plays in Hamas, which has offices and members living in Lebanon. There are over 147,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon, most of them in the country's 12 refugee camps.

Several armed factions are based in the camps where the state has no jurisdiction. Rivalry between them often leads to clashes. The largest Palestinian refugee camp is located in Sidon.

The Lebanese military said the explosion was caused by a 500-gram (18 ounces) bomb that included ball bearings. A Lebanese security official said the bomb was placed under the car seat

In 2006, two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group were killed in the same neighborhood in Sidon when a bomb planted in a vehicle detonated as they passed near it. Israel was blamed for the attack. Lebanon is officially at war with Israel. The last war in 2006 ended in a stalemate.

Last year, another Palestinian official survived when he came under fire as he entered a residence in Sidon.

Political assassinations were common in Lebanon for years following the end of the country's civil war in 1990. But they have subsided in recent years and the delicate sectarian-based political system has largely been stable.