Cyprus court extends detention of Lebanese terror suspect

A Lebanese man was on Monday ordered detained in Cyprus police custody for a further week over allegations he was helping to plan an attack on Israeli tourists, state radio reported. The 24-year-old, who holds a Swedish passport, appeared at a closed-door hearing under tight security at a court in the island's second city Limassol, which agreed to a prosecution request he should remain in detention for a further seven days, the radio said. Cyprus police have refused to comment publicly on the case on the grounds that it is a "sensitive political issue" but did say investigators have found no evidence to suggest he had any accomplices. Monday's daily Phileleftheros said phone records suggest he was working alone on Cyprus to collect information and then leave. Online news website Sigmalive said the suspect was arrested in a Limassol hotel room on July 7 after flying in from London. Police suspect he was in Cyprus to track movements of Israeli tourists and find out when group tours arrived on the holiday island, it added. Reports say his arrest followed a tip-off from foreign intelligence agencies, including Israel's Mossad. The case comes as Cyprus beefs up security for Israeli interests on the island following a suicide bombing in Bulgaria that killed six people on July 18, five of them Israeli tourists. Israel has blamed that attack on Iran and Lebanese militant group Hizbullah, and says it fitted a pattern of other attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis including in Thailand, India, Georgia and Kenya. Phileleftheros said the man was trained by Hizbullah in surveillance tactics and how to use weapons in 2008. Officials have said there is no evidence to link the man to last week's suicide bombing in Bulgaria but security has been beefed at the ports and "where possible incidents" might happen. In 2011, nearly 32,000 tourists came to Cyprus from Israel, less than an hour's flight away, and official figures for June have shown a sharp upward trend this year. The island had seen attacks against Israeli interests in late 70s and early 80s, but since then it had been viewed as neutral ground for unofficial Middle East peace contacts.