BEIRUT // A new wave of suicide bombings struck a Lebanese village near the border with war-ravaged Syria just hours after pre-dawn attacks on Monday killed at least five people, a security source said.
In the latest violence, three suicide bombers riding motorcycles blew themselves up in the centre of the predominantly Christian village of Al Qaa in eastern Lebanon, the source said.
One struck in front of a church and the two others in front of the municipality building.
The Lebanese Red Cross told LBC television that “many” people were wounded in the bombings.
“Clashes are ongoing on the outskirts of the village between the Lebanese army and armed groups,” another security source said.
Earlier, a series of suicide bombings killed five people in the village.
A military source said at least four suicide bombers hit the village before dawn.
“The first attacker knocked on one of the homes in the village, but after the resident became suspicious, he blew himself up,” the source said.
He said three other suicide attackers detonated their own explosives as people began gathering to treat the wounded.
Security forces cordoned off the site of the blasts, which lies on a main road linking the Syrian town of Al-Qusayr to Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley.
“Al Qaa is the gateway to the rest of Lebanon, and here we stopped a plan for a much bigger explosion,” said Al Qaa mayor Bashir Matar.
“We chased the fourth attacker and shot at him, and he blew himself up,” Mr Matar said, adding that five villagers had been killed in the attack.
George Kettaneh of the Lebanese Red Cross said the blast left “at least eight killed including three suicide bombers”.
He said 15 other people were wounded, including some in critical condition.
Lebanon’s army said four soldiers were wounded in the string of attacks, which the country’s national news agency said took place at 10 minute intervals.
Al Qaa is one of several border posts separating Lebanon and Syria. Its residents are mostly Christian, but one district called Masharia Al Qaa is home to Sunni Muslims.
Displaced Syrians fleeing the war next door have set up an informal camp adjacent to the village.
The border area has been rocked by clashes, shelling, and suicide attacks since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011.
Resident Fadi Bsherrawi said he woke up when he heard the first blast, but went back to sleep thinking it was just fighting near the border.
“I really woke up to the sound of the second attack,” he said.
His neighbours told him after the attack that one Muslim resident was having a morning meal before beginning his Ramadan fast when he saw a group of men outside.
“He went outside to talk to them and they wanted to stir things up. So his son fired on them with a hunting rifle” before the explosions started, Mr Bsherrawi said.
Local paramedics arrived after the first suicide attack but “one rescue worker who was trying to carry a wounded man was killed when the second terrorist suicide bomber came”.
Suicide blasts in the area have typically targeted checkpoints or military installations and rarely include more than one attacker.
But blasts in densely-populated areas in Beirut have been much deadlier.
On November 12, more than 40 people were killed in twin suicide bombings claimed by ISIL in a southern Beirut neighbourhood.
* Agence France-Presse
