Lebanese fundamentalist set off south Beirut blast

Authorities determined that bomber who blew himself up in southern Beirut on Thursday was a young Lebanese who hailed from northern province Wadi Khaled.Official National News Agency (NNA) said DNA tests on the corpse remains of the purported suicide attacker revealed that he was Qutaiba Al-Satem, a young man from the northern town, Hanaidar.Investigators who combed the scene of the Thursday explosion in Haret Hureik, South Beirut, found an identity paper bearing his name and his birth date, 1994.Lebanese Army intelligence interrogated Al-Satem's father in the northern town, before he was transferred to the military headquarters on Beirut's outskirts for DNA tests and comparison with identical tests that had been conducted on remains of his dead son.The interior minister of the care-taker government, Marwan Sherbel, stated that the father had notified security authorities, on December 30, that his son had disappeared and he had no clue about his whereabouts.Meanwhile, the army confirmed in a statement that the blast that killed four people and wounded more than 60 others was caused by 20 kilograms of explosives, planted in a four-wheel vehicle.Lebanese television stations broadcast pictures of remains of the said suicide bomber, being collected at the scene of the explosion. They also reported that the bomber, according to messages posted on the internet, advocated beliefs of the notorious group Al-Qaeda. (end) oh.rk KUNA 040930 Jan 14NNNN