Mashnouq Says Israel behind Car Bomb Targeting Hamas Official
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Friday said Israel was involved in a car bomb blast that targeted an official of the Palestinian movement Hamas in southern Lebanon earlier this month.
Mohammad Hamdan was wounded when a bomb placed in his car detonated in the southern port city of Sidon on January 14.
Hamdan did not appear to have a public or political role in Hamas, but according to a Palestinian security source, he was a member of the organization's security structure.
On Friday, the press office of Mashnouq said one of the perpetrators had been coordinating with Israel.
In a statement distributed to reporters, it said investigators were able to arrest "one of the main perpetrators of the crime, who confessed to being tasked by Israeli intelligence."
The statement did not specify the suspect's nationality, but said investigators seized "very advanced communications mechanisms from his home, and correspondence between him and his handlers."
Hamas also accused Israel of involvement in the attack against Hamdan.
The Palestinian Islamist group has fought three wars with Israel in the past decade and is based in Gaza, but it operates branches elsewhere in the Middle East including Lebanon.
Source: Agence France Presse
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