Reports: Five Syrians Arrested for Plotting to Bomb Ashoura Procession
The army on Friday arrested Syrian nationals who were preparing an explosive device with the aim of detonating it at an Ashoura procession set to be held on Saturday, media reports said.
"Army intelligence agents on Friday evening arrested five Syrians at a house in the Nabatiyeh neighborhood of al-Maslakh while they were preparing a 300-gram explosive device with the aim of detonating it during the Muharram (Ashoura) 9 procession that will be held tomorrow in the city of Nabatiyeh” in southern Lebanon, al-Jadeed television reported.
Army troops cordoned off the house and the detainees were taken to the headquarters of the army Intelligence Directorate in the southern city of Sidon, the TV network added.
Later on Friday, state-run National News Agency said “five people were arrested in the Nabatiyeh neighborhood of al-Maslakh as they were plotting for a subversive act in the area.”
“They are being interrogated by the army,” the agency added.
The army, the Internal Security Forces and members of Hizbullah and AMAL Movement are taking strict security measures in areas witnessing Ashoura ceremonies and processions.
The ten days of Ashoura are the most important days in the Shiite religious calendar.
The last day of Ashoura, Muharram 10 in the Islamic lunar calendar, marks the climax of mourning for the death of reverred Imam Hussein bin Ali -- the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed – at the hands of the army of the caliph Yazid during the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.
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