Deaths in Lebanon blamed on Islamic extremists

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese and Syrian authorities Monday each blamed recent bombings on Islamic extremists tied to al-Qaida and probably based in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

On Monday, a remote-control car bomb packed with ball bearings ripped through a military bus in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing four Lebanese soldiers and a civilian and injuring 30 people, Lebanese officials said. The attack came two days after a 440-pound bomb detonated in a pedestrian area of Damascus, the Syrian capital, killing 17 people.

A senior Lebanese security official said authorities suspect Jund al Sham, a rebel group that was detected first in Afghanistan during the late 1990s and surfaced in Lebanon around 2004, was responsible.

The official said the bombings were revenge for the Lebanese military's defeat last year of Fatah Islam, an ally of the extremist group, in a months-long battle around the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared.

"They are declaring a terrorist war against the Lebanese army to avenge the battle of Nahr el-Bared," said the official, who requested anonymity.

"They are not an organization that has a known command or known spokesman. They're linked to al-Qaida and have bases in the Palestinian camps," which retain semiautonomous status in Lebanon.

Syrian officials Monday also suggested that evidence pointed to an Islamic group in Lebanon for the deadly weekend car-bomb explosion in Damascus, although they did not name the group. In an official statement, Syria said the explosives-packed vehicle had entered the country a day before the bombing and the alleged driver, who died in the blast, was linked to the group by suspects in custody.

Syrian authorities have claimed that mostly Sunni northern Lebanon has become a hotbed of Islamic extremism, drawing some veterans of the Iraqi insurgency.

After Monday's blast, the U.S. Embassy suspended all travel by its personnel to Tripoli and advised Americans to avoid the city. Syria called the attack "a terrorist and criminal act."

In recent weeks, thousands of Syrian troops massed along the northern Lebanese frontier in a move some analysts described as a potential attempt to keep Lebanon's troubles from seeping into Syria.