Tripoli: Two suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 37 others in an attack on a cafe in a flashpoint Alawite neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Saturday, officials...
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AFP
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January 11, 2015
Tripoli: Two suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 37 others in an attack on a cafe in a flashpoint Alawite neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Saturday, officials said.
Al-Qaeda´s Syria branch claimed responsibility for the attack in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood.
"Nine people were killed and 37 others wounded," the health ministry said in a statement.
A security source told AFP: "The first suicide bomber entered into the Ashqar cafe at around 7:30 pm (1730 GMT) and blew himself up."
Panicked survivors tried to flee the scene of the attack, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Then, a second suicide attacker arrived, and blew himself up too," he said, updating his initial account of a single suicide bomber.
A man who was lightly wounded said he was near the scene of the blast when the attackers struck.
"I was at the cafe with other people, when we suddenly heard a first blast," Zuheir al-Sheikh said.
"Then we heard a huge blast, though I have no idea what caused it," he added.
Al-Qaeda´s branch in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, claimed responsibility for the blasts via Twitter.
The Arab Democratic Party is the main group representing the Alawite minority in Lebanon. (AFP)