Tripoli, October 08: Eight people were wounded, one seriously, in a grenade explosion targeting a coffee shop in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, a security official said on Wednesday.
The blast took place in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood and was followed shortly afterwards by a second grenade explosion in the nearby district of Bab Al-Tebbaneh, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
He said no one was injured in the second blast.
The army immediately boosted its presence in the area and cordoned off the main thoroughfare that cuts between the two neighborhoods.
The area was the scene last year of deadly sectarian clashes.
Late on Tuesday, one person was stabbed to death and four others were wounded in sectarian clashes that broke out overnight in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an army spokesman said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the spokesman said on Wednesday that the violence pitted youths from the district of Shiyah against residents of the nearby area of Ein el-Rommaneh.
“Young men on scooters came from Shiyah and began circling near a restaurant in Ein el-Rommaneh,” the spokesman said. “A heated exchange with local residents ensued and knives were used leaving one dead and four injured, all from Ein el-Rommaneh.”
The clashes took place in an area that was the first line of demarcation during the 1975-1990 civil war.
They also took place as Lebanon grapples to form a government four months after a general election.
—Agencies