Mawlawi-Linked Cell Charged with Plotting NYE Bombings, Assassinations
A terrorist cell loyal to fugitive militant Shadi al-Mawlawi and the jihadist al-Nusra Front group was charged Wednesday with plotting to stage terrorist acts on New Year's Eve among other serious charges.
State Commissioner to Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged 15 people loyal to Mawlawi and Nusra -- including 11 detainees – with “plotting to stage terrorist acts on New Year's Eve; blow up booby-trapped cars in Beirut, Tripoli and Dahiyeh; assassinating incumbent and retired officers; and targeting civilian gatherings,” NNA said.
“The case and the detainees were then referred to First Military Examining Magistrate Riad Abu Ghida,” the agency added.
A fugitive suspected of belonging and communicating with the jihadist Islamic State group was on Tuesday arrested in Tripoli's al-Zahriyeh neighborhood while a quantity of weapons were seized in the city's al-Qobbeh district.
The 11-member cell that was charged on Wednesday was also arrested in Tripoli in recent days.
Mawlawi, who is believed to be hiding in the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, had ordered the cell to “send bomb-laden cars to Beirut's suburbs and assassinate civilians and incumbent and retired army officers,” the army said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Based on the confessions of the members of the aforementioned cell, several locations were raided in the city of Tripoli and a large quantity of explosives, a suicide belt, remote detonation devices, weapons, ammunition and a pistol equipped with a silencer were seized,” the statement added.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/223188 |