Army Defuses 2 Bombs in Tripoli Building Depot

The army succeeded on Sunday in dismantling two bombs that were discovered in the northern city of Tripoli, announced the National News Agency.

It said that members of the military grew suspicious of an object in Tripoli's Nejmeh Square and upon inspection discovered two bombs.

According to an army statement issued later in the day, the two bombs were found in a building's depot.

“After obtaining information about the presence of two suspicious objects inside the depot of the Dalati Building in Tripoli's Nejmeh Square, army forces cordoned off the area and evacuated civilians from the aforementioned building and from the nearby buildings,” the statement said.

“Following inspection by a military expert, the two suspicious objects turned out to be two bombs that were set for detonation,” the army added.

It said the first was “a hand-made bomb consisted of three pipes loaded with 1.5 kilograms of explosives and connected to a detonator and a slow combustion fuse cord.”

The second explosive device consisted of “a gas cylinder, 10 kilos of explosives, a fuse cord and an electric remotely-controlled detonator.”

“The military expert defused the two bombs and transferred them to a safe location as a probe got underway to identify the culprits under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities,” the army added.

Later on Sunday, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported that "Roumieh prison inmate Moumen Hajar confessed during interrogation that the two bombs are present in a depot that he owns."

"He told security agencies about their place," which allowed the army to defuse them, the radio station added.

M.T./Y.R.