At Least 14 Dead, 212 Hurt in Car Bombing between Bir al-Abed, Ruwais
At least 14 people were killed and 212 others wounded in a car bombing that rocked Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported.
The blast went off on the public road between Bir al-Abed and Ruwais, according to several television channels.
"There are at least six killed and a large number of wounded," a military source told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.
Lebanese Red Cross director Georges Kittani said more than 100 people were wounded.
But NNA said 10 bodies were transported to the Sahel Hospital and four others to the Great Prophet Hospital, while 100 wounded people were rushed to the Great Prophet Hospital, 50 to Bahman Hospital and 20 others to al-Bourj Hospital.
"According to the interior ministry, the blast was caused by a car bomb," MTV reported.
"The human remains found 10 meters from the blast location might be those of a suicide bomber," al-Manar television said.
Live TV footage showed burning cars and pillars of black smoke bellowing from the blast scene.
“Gunfire was heard in the vicinity of the blast scene,” al-Jadeed television reported.
“The blast went off near Mahfouz Stores in Ruwais,” OTV reported, as MTV said the explosion took place "under a bridge facing the Harkous Chicken Restaurant."
Al-Mayadeen television said a security cordon was imposed around the location.
According to MTV, the bomb weighed between 60 and 80 kilograms of explosives.
Media reports said a large number of families were still trapped inside the burning buildings in the area.
Later on Thursday, a group calling itself the Brigades of Aisha Umm al-Moemeneen claimed the bombing in a YouTube video and threatened further attacks.
The video -- which surfaced shortly after news of the attack broke -- shows three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic profession of faith.
"We... send a message to (Hizbullah chief Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah's pigs," said one of the men, wearing a white mask.
On July 9, a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot in Bir al-Abed, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage.
In May, two rockets slammed into the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyyah, wounding four people.
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