Army Dismantles 50-Kilogram Bomb in Arsal
The army on Friday defused an explosive device weighing around 50 kilograms in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.
The bomb was discovered as an army force was conducting an inspection patrol in the Arsal area of Ras al-Sarj, according to an army statement.
The 50-kilo explosive device was placed “in a camouflaged way inside a garbage bin,” the army said.
It noted that the bomb was set for remote detonation.
“The patrol immediately cordoned off the location and a military expert arrived and defused it as Military Police launched a probe into the incident,” the army added.
On Wednesday, a patrol for the army intelligence found three bags containing 66 kilograms of chemicals that can be used for making bombs in the Arsal area of Ain al-Shaab.
And on September 11, the army dismantled a booby-trapped car containing 100 kilograms of explosives in the same area in Arsal. The vehicle had a Syrian license plate.
Attackers had on Sep. 19 detonated a roadside bomb as an army truck passed by on a road near Arsal, killing three soldiers and wounding two others.
Militants from the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front overran Arsal last month and engaged in heavy battles with the army.
The fighters withdrew to Syria but took with them hostages from the military and the Internal security Forces. They have beheaded three of them.
Arsal's outskirts are still witnessing sporadic clashes between the army and the gunmen.
Lebanon has seen a string of deadly car bomb attacks linked to Syria's war, most of which were claimed by Syria-based extremist groups.
Y.R.
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