Army Defuses Car Rigged with 240 Kilos of Explosives in Bekaa
The Lebanese Army announced dismantling on Sunday an explosive-rigged car in the outskirts of the Ham town near the eastern Bekaa district of Hermel, a Hizbullah stronghold.
A military expert arrived at the scene to inspect a silver Toyota RAV4 vehicle after its driver abandoned it 600 meters before reaching an army checkpoint in the area.
Another military expert was later called in to the scene due to the complexity of the explosive device.
According to the state-run National News Agency, the car entered Lebanon from Syria's province of Qalamoun that is located near the border.
The NNA said that the vehicle was heading to the capital Beirut.
The army issued a communique saying that an army unit detected a suspicious Toyota RAV4 vehicle in the outskirts of the town of Ham in the Bekaa.
“The unit pursued the car and opened fire at it but the driver was able to flee the car,” the statement pointed out.
In another communique, the army said the SUV contained "around 240 kilograms of Semtex explosives, 10 kilos of extremely flammable material and two 122 mm artillery shells."
“They were distributed across all the parts of the vehicles and connected with a 200-meter long detonator cable, in addition to a remote detonation mechanism and a timing mechanism consisted of two mobile phone, an electric ignition device, a timer and a 12-volt battery,” the communique added.
“A number of narcotic pills were also found inside the car,” it said.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the army's intelligence to transfer the car to its headquarters and launch preliminary investigations.
Last week, military experts defused a booby-trapped vehicle in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa neighborhood after the army announced the arrest of a leader in the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, it also intercepted another explosive-laden vehicle in the Bekaa region.
Lebanon has seen a string of deadly attacks, including car bombs, linked to Syria's war, claimed by al-Qaida-linked groups.
Although officially neutral in Syria's conflict, Lebanon is deeply divided over the Sunni-led rebellion against President Bashar Assad, whose troops are backed by fighters from Hizbullah.
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