Death Toll in Dahieh Blast Reaches 24 as Charbel Urges against Jumping ahead of Investigations
The death toll in the blast that rocked Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh on Thursday rose to 24, announced the Red Cross on Friday according to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).
It had state earlier that 248 people were wounded in the blast.
Caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil had stated later on Friday that the death toll had reached 21.
The Army Command meanwhile called in a statement on the relatives of the victims to undergo DNA tests in order to help identify the casualties.
MTV later reported that the suicide bomber was riding in a black BMW at the time he detonated the explosive.
LBCI television added that 55 to 60 kilograms of TNT were used in the bomb attack.
Meanwhile, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told VDL that video camera footage is being studied to find attacker and determine whether it was a suicide bomber that carried out Dahieh attack.
“We cannot jump ahead of the investigations,” he said.
“We must be given some time to find the leads,” he urged.
A car bomb attack took place in Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported.
The blast went off on the public road between Bir al-Abed and Ruwais.
Later on Thursday, a group calling itself the Brigades of Aisha Umm al-Moemeneen claimed the bombing in a YouTube video and threatened further attacks over Hizbullah's involvement in the fighting in Syria.
On July 9, a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot in Bir al-Abed, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage.
In May, two rockets slammed into the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyyah, wounding four people.
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