Suicide Bomber Blows Himself Up In Beirut Hotel Explosion


The Duroy Hotel in Beirut’s Raouche district was the scene of a huge explosion as a suicide bomber blew himself up inside his hotel room on the third floor. The hotel is located in a swanky neighborhood of deluxe apartment towers and high-class hotels.

As rush-hour was coming to an end, the explosion rocked the hotel, “sending flames and a dark cloud of black smoke billowing out of the building’s windows,” according to witness reports to Aljazeera.com. While it seems that the explosion only badly effected the third and fourth floors of the hotel, USA Today reports that “the explosion started a fire on the third floor, and thick black smoke billowed above the hotel as fire engines struggled to contain the blaze.”

Lebanon’s military prosecutor, Saqr Saqr, was reported by Aljazeera.com as stating, “General security was conducting a raid and were able to arrest one suspect, while another blew himself up.”

USA Today released the report that three general security officers were wounded, and the arrested suspect was wounded and is being guarded at the American University Hospital in Beirut. The investigation is ongoing at the Duroy Hotel while every room is being searched for any additional explosives.

While the attack occurred in an area that is normally filled with locals as well as foreigners (due to its close proximity to the embassy of Saudi Arabia), Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said that the suicide bomber was actually going to detonate himself somewhere else, but security managed to circumvent that.

Al Jazeera’s Rula Amin said that, “The suicide bomber carried out the attack when security forces tried to apprehend him,” she said.

This is the third bombing within a week. One last week killed a police officer and wounded several others. And just as recently as Monday, another suicide bomber killed one person and wounded twenty, per USA Today. This has stirred up fear within Lebanon, especially with how they have been affected by the civil war in Syria.

And it doesn’t seem like it may end soon; the report by Aljazeera.com states, “An al-Qaeda-linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has warned that such attacks will continue as long as Hezbollah takes part in Syria’s civil war alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s military.”

Photo Credit: AlJazeera.com

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