Judicial Council to Deal with Jabal Mohsen Attack as Bombers Linked to Top Fugitive Terrorists

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has revealed that he asked the judicial authorities to refer the latest attack in the northern city of Tripoli to the Judicial Council as reports emerged that the suicide bombers received orders from top wanted terrorists Osama Mansour and Shadi al-Mawlawi.

Rifi told local dailies published on Monday that he gave orders for the attack on a cafe in Tripoli's mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood to be referred to the Council similar to the bombings of the Sunni al-Salam and al-Taqwa mosques in 2013.

“We look at these crimes the same way,” said Rifi. “There is no differentiation.”

“Jabal Mohsen residents are from Tripoli and are Lebanese,” he said.

“The martyrs of this crime are the same who fell victim to the bombings of the two mosques,” Rifi stressed.

“The criminals wanted to create sectarian strife in Lebanon, but the residents of Tripoli and mainly Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, turned it into an opportunity for national unity,” he said.

In Saturday's attack, nine people died and at least 37 people were injured when the two bombers triggered their explosives.

Rifi's remarks came amid claims by security officials that the bombers, who are Tripoli residents, took direct orders from Mansour and Mawlawi and had participated in the latest battles with the Lebanese army.

Al-Mawlawi and Mansour have been charged in absentia with belonging to an armed terrorist group in order to stage terrorist acts.

Recent reports said that al-Mawlawi has taken refuge in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh.

The security officials, who were not identified, told the local dailies, that Saturday's suicide bombers had received training from Mansour, who is the mastermind of the Jabal Mohsen assault.

The attackers disappeared when the wanted terrorists went into hiding following the deadly gunbattles with the Lebanese army in and around Tripoli in October, they said.

The officials said however that the bombers later joined the Emir of al-Nusra Front in the Syrian Qalamoun region, Abu Malek al-Talleh.

Al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing but Rifi and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stressed that the militant Islamic State group has been behind the attack.

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