Israel Matzav

Breaking: Five people killed by explosion in Hezbullah leader's home in Tyre

Five people have been killed this evening in an explosion at a Hezbullah leader's home in the Teir Felsay neighborhood of Tyre.

This is the sequence of events at Naharnet, a Lebanese internet portal.

10:10pm LBC: 5 casualties due to an explosion in a residence in Teir Felsay; amongst them the owner and his son.

9:53pm OTV: An explosion of remnants of war in the peripheries of Teir Felsay wounds a citizen.

9:48pm An explosion in Saeed Nasser’s residence in Teir Felsay due to ammunition according to LBC.

9:40pm 8 people were wounded in an explosion in a residence between Teir Felsay and Zrariye villages.

9:35pm Future News: An explosion in a Hizbullah official’s residence in Teir Felsay in Tyre.

9:30pm OTV: An explosion in a Hizbullah official’s residence in Teir Felsay in Tyre. Reports of a casualty and 3 wounded people.

9:15pm Several wounded people due to an explosion in a Hizbullah official’s residence in Teir Felsay area in Tyre.

9:05pm VDL: A big explosion sound was heard in Tayr Felsay village in Tyre area. Reports said it may have resulted from a Hizbullah arms cache explosion.

It is now just after 10:30 in Lebanon. More details when available.

UPDATE 10:01 PM

Israel Radio has just reported that there are two different versions of the story and in one of them the Hezbullah terrorist tried to take apart a mortar shell.

Here is Naharnet's latest report.

An explosion rocked a building at the village of Teir Felsay in Tyre area Monday evening. The explosion lead to the total demolition of the building owned by Abdul Nasser Issa leaving a number of wounded people.

Ambulances and firefighting vehicles rushed to the scene where the Lebanese Army encircled the zone and prohibited access to the area. The wounded were reportedly taken to Nabatiyeh hospital.

Future News TV network reported that the building's owner is a Hizbullah official. Other sources reported that the building had an arms cache belonging to Hizbullah.

Hizbullah sources said that the explosion, reportedly happened in the peripheries of the village, was due to 2006 war remnants.

Hmmm.

UPDATE TUESDAY 12:27 AM

Israel has asked UNIFIL to open an investigation into Monday night's blast.

Hezbollah has denied that the explosion that rocked a south Lebanon house was serving as a munitions bunker, and rejected media reports that a senior group official was killed in the blast.

An Israel Defense Forces source said the explosion indicated the Iranian-backed guerrilla group Israel fought in a month-long war in 2006 was keeping "banned ammunition" in southern Lebanon.

"The Israeli military has asked UNIFIL to open an investigation," the source said, using the acronym for a United Nations peacekeeping force that has patrolled the troubled Israeli-Lebanese border area for more than three decades.

The cause of the blast appeared to be accidental, reports from Lebanon said. An Israeli military spokeswoman also confirmed Israel had "nothing to do" with the incident.

Lebanese media said that a senior official and at least three others were killed in a blast in a three-story building in the southern Lebanese village of Tayr Filsi, on the southern bank of the Litani River.

Lebanese media named the official as Saeed Nasser and security sources listed his son among the fatalities.

Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:33 PM