Al-Qaida-linked terrorist group claims Beirut twin blasts

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al- Qaida linked group, claimed responsibility for the twin blasts that targeted the Iranian cultural mission in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday. At 9:30 a.m. local time (GMT 0730) Wednesday morning, a suicide bomber detonated a booby-trapped car near the Iranian cultural mission in the Bir Hassan neighborhood, the heartland of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, just a few moments before another suicide bomber riding a motorcycle set off another bomb among the crowds, Aljadeed TV and eyewitnesses said. In a message on its Twitter account, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a group designated a terrorist organization by many countries, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings. Public Health Minister Wael Abou Faour has put the death toll of blasts at five and said more than 80 others were injured. He added that the twin suicide bombing aimed to destabilize the security situation following the formation of the new Lebanese cabinet. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades has also claimed responsibility for the twin blasts that targeted the Iranian embassy in the same area on Nov. 19, 2013. The Lebanese army captured Majed al-Majed, a Saudi National who is known as the "Emir" of the group, but he later died while in its custody on Jan. 4, 2014.