Lebanon: Suicide bombers kill 25 near Iran embassy in Beirut, claimed by Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the Hussein bin Ali cells
Two suicide bombers – one driving a rigged car and the other on a motorcycle with an explosives belt – attacked Iran’s Embassy in Beirut Tuesday, killing at least 25 people including an Iranian diplomat and wounding more than 150, security sources said.
The attack, confirmed by Lebanon’s military prosecutor as the work of suicide bombers, was claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group and is the latest in a spate of deadly bombings linked to the war in Syria.
“The Abdullah Azzam brigades – the Hussein bin Ali cells – … are behind the attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut,” Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the group’s religious guide, said on his Twitter feed.
“It is a twin suicide operation by two heroes from the Sunni community in Lebanon,” he said, warning that that the group – a Lebanon-based Al-Qaeda affiliate – would carry out further attacks until Hezbollah withdraws its fighters from Syria and Islamist detainees in Lebanon are released.