Investigations Ongoing over Tripoli Blasts as Death Toll Rises to 45

At least 45 people were killed and about 500 others wounded in the two blasts that rocked the northern city of Tripoli amid reports saying that the explosive-laden car that hit al-Salam mosque was rigged with 175 kilograms of explosives.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, the car used in the blast near al-Salam mosque is a Ford jeep rigged with 175 kilograms of TNT, while military experts are still identifying the car used in the second explosion, which targeted the Taqwa mosque in the northern city.

Witnesses told As Safir newspaper that they saw a person parking a Honda Civic near al-Salam mosque and left the car to take another, minutes before the blast took place.

The two explosions caused extensive material damage in the two areas.

Both blasts hit at the hour of weekly Muslim prayers, in a city where Sunni supporters of Syria's rebels engage in frequent, often deadly, clashes with Alawites, who back President Bashar Assad regime.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported that the preliminary investigation at al-Salam blast scene showed that the bomb contained TNT and nitrate.

Informed sources told the newspaper that the two booby-trapped cars probably contain timers and were detonated from a distance while worshipers were performing their weekly Muslim prayers.

The sources pointed out that the competent security agencies weren't able to thoroughly examine the scene of the second blast that took place near the Taqwa mosque due to the angry residents that prevented them from carrying out their tasks.

The state-run National news agency reported that the death toll in the two explosions reached 45 and 160 others wounded are in a critical condition.

That was the highest toll in an attack since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, and brought condemnation from Western powers, the United Nations and Syria.

Coming a week after a bombing in the Beirut bastion of Hizbullah, a close ally of Bashar Assad, the bombings in the northern port of Tripoli risk further stoking tensions between supporters and foes of the Syrian president.