A huge explosion went off in an alleged arms depot in the Hizbullah stronghold of Siddiqin in the South overnight and party members prevented the security forces from reaching the area, media reports said Wednesday.
The reports said the cause of the blast could not be determined after Hizbullah drew a tight security dragnet around the scene of the explosion.
Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon launched an investigation and announced that a technical team will head to the scene of the explosion to corroborate the reports that it went off in an arms depot in contravention of Security Council resolution 1701.
But a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force, Andrea Tenenti, denied that UNIFIL had sent any patrol to the area or had launched any investigation.
“UNIFIL doesn’t have any info about it and is in continuous contact with the Lebanese army,” he said.
Last year, several blasts caused a large fire at a building in the southern town of Shehabiyeh. At the time reports said the explosions went off at a Hizbullah weapons depot.
An arms cache belonging to Hizbullah has also exploded in an abandoned house in the southern village of Khirbet Selm.
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