In the latest violence to hit the troubled northern city of Tripoli, three grenades exploded in the early hours of Saturday morning, just days after a bomb targeting soldiers ripped through a bus on a busy commercial street. Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers carried out house raids throughout the city after two hand grenades exploded on Syria Street in the impoverished Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.In a separate incident, a stun grenade was hurled at a political party's office in Tripoli early Saturday morning. The grenade was thrown by an unknown attacker into the garden of the office in the Abi Samra area at about 3 a.m., said a report on Naharnet.
Tripoli has been the scene of bloody fighting since May. In June and July, at least 23 people were killed in battles between mainly Sunni militants from the Bab al-Tabbaneh district and Alawite residents of nearby Jabal Mohsen, although hostilities had been calming down. Tensions between the two communities have been simmering since the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 Civil War.
In another blow to the fragile security situation in the city, a bomb hidden in a briefcase exploded by a bus last Wednesday, killing nine soldiers, at least five civilians and injuring over 40 others.
The blast came one day after the new unity government received a vote of confidence from Parliament and on the morning of the first day of a historic visit by President Michel Sleiman to Syria in a bid to establish diplomatic ties.
Speaking after the attack, Information Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters, "The investigation [into the bombing] has begun and there are many interpretations, political interpretations" regarding who was responsible. "Once again, they want our country to be an arena for settling scores and battling for influence," Mitri added.
Investigators on Saturday continued to probe the attack, examining surveillance images of the suspected bomber.