2008 Tripoli, Lebanon bombing

Infobox terrorist attack
title=2008 Tripoli Lebanon car bombing


caption=
location=Tripoli, Lebanon
target=Military bus
date=September 29, 2008
time-begin=
time-end=
timezone=UTC+2
type=car bombing
fatalities=7 [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3603955,00.html]
injuries=30 [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/09/200892951350653451.html]
susperps=Fatah al-Islamhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4846164.ece]
perps=unknownhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1025405.html]

The 2008 Tripoli Lebanon car bombing occurred on September 29, 2008 in the morning in Tripoli, Lebanon targeting a military bus carrying soldiers, killing 7 and injuring 30 people. Lebanese officials said the blast came after a car parked by a busy roadside was detonated by remote control.

The attacks comes on the heels of another in the city last month that killed 15 people including 10 soldiers; [http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Lebanon/236375] as well as a bombing in neighbouring Syria two days ago. There was a quick chorus of condemnation and denunciation from local politicians, who said it was targeted at army. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati told a local radio station,"This is a direct targeting of the military institution."

Background

Tripoli has seen some of the worst sectarian battles since May, pitting Sunni groups which support the Western-backed Lebanese Government against the Arab Democratic Party (ADP) of the city's Alawite community. ADP is a part of the opposition, and has close links to the Alawite-dominated regime in Damascus.

A formal reconciliation was reached this month between the feuding factions in north Lebanon.

Rifaat Eid, the son of the leader of the ADP, accused Saudi Arabia of funding Salafi jihadists in north Lebanon, blaming them for the violence. "The Salafis are like kittens when they are weak, but when they are strong they are like tigers." Salafist leaders in Tripoli insist that the threat of jihadist militancy is exaggerated.
Sheikh Omar Bakri, a Salafist preacher, said "They say we are fanatics and cite what is happening in Iraq, but this is just propaganda to weaken the Sunnis in Lebanon."

Last month, Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, gave warning that Islamic extremists were destabilising north Lebanon. Two weeks ago, thousands of Syrian troops deployed along the north Lebanon border, triggering fears in Beirut of a possible military incursion.

ee also

*List of terrorist incidents, 2008

References