The village of Qaa was targeted on Monday in two waves of suicide attacks that killed five people.
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Eight suicide bombers attacked a Lebanese Christian village on Monday, June 27, killing five people and wounding dozens more, in the latest violent spillover of the five-year-old Syrian war into Lebanon.
At least one of the devices was detonated outside a church where people had gathered for funerals.
“Clashes are ongoing on the outskirts of the village between the Lebanese army and armed groups”, a security source told AFP.
The attack happened in the village of Qaa in the Bekaa valley along the border with Syria.
The army said four soldiers were wounded in the attacks, which the National News Agency reported took place at 10 minute intervals.
The mayor of Al-Qaa, Bashir Matar, issued an urgent call to residents to stay indoors in televised remarks, warning more suicide bombers could be roaming the village.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings. The Lebanese army said four soldiers were among those who were injured.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV blamed Monday’s attack on the Islamic State group, which has claimed previous attacks in Lebanon.
Its 3,000 residents are predominantly Christian, but the Masharia Al-Qaa district is home to Sunni Muslims and some 30,000 Syrian refugees live in a makeshift camp on the edge of the village.
The provincial governor meanwhile imposed a curfew on Syrian refugees in the area. The Lebanese military has been carrying out operations in the area trying to retake territory lost to ISIS and al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.
BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanese troops detained 103 Syrians for illegal entry into the country, in a security sweep on Tuesday, a day after a series of deadly bombings struck a village near the border with Syria, the military said.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on June 24, warned of a threat posed by militants based in the border area between Syria and Lebanon, saying they were still preparing auto bombs in the area.
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The Lebanese army released a formal statement on Monday, saying: “first explosion took off at 4:20 am where a suicide bomber detonated himself close to one of the houses in the town”.
