At least 25 people are dead and another 150 wounded after suicide bombers, one in a rigged car and another on a motorcycle, attacked the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday.
According to the Daily Star:
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported that seconds before the car bomb exploded, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up.
The security sources said Iranian embassy cultural attaché Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari, who had recently arrived in Beirut to join the Iranian mission, and two Iranian civilians were among the dead.
Several embassy guards were also wounded in the bombings, according to the sources who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity. Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi confirmed Ansari’s death and said the Iranian embassy was the target of the “terrorist attack.” Roknabadi also accused Israel of being behind the explosions.
“Such acts don’t affect our path,” he told the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television channel.
First responders battled black smoke and extinguished flames from vehicles while trying to reach the bodies that lay in the street leading to the embassy.
Three buildings around the embassy were also damaged.
SOURCE: Daily Star, AP
