Lebanese interior minister: Suicide bomber behind Hermel blast

Lebanese Interior Minister Marawan Charbel announced Saturday that Hermel's deadly blast, which killed and wounded over 30 people, was the result of a suicide bombing attack."Preliminary information reveals that a suicide bomber driving a Grand Cherokee blew himself up facing the Orphans gas station in Hermel," Charbel said in a statement to local media. Charbel said that the tally of fatalities of the car explosion has jumped to four killed and nearly 28 injured.Eyewitnesses in Hermel stated that a suicide bomber driving a "Grand Cherokee" car entered the gas station on pretext of re-fueling his vehicle and then triggered the explosion.Witnesses described the blast as being much stronger than the one which occurred in Hermel city square about a month ago, causing fire to break out in the gas station and spread to the cars parked within the vicinity.In the meantime, Prime Minister-designate Tamam Salam condemned bombing attack as a "terrorist, cowardly act." He called unity among Lebanese to prevent the hands of discord from tampering with the country's security and stability.Salam expressed his heartiest condolences to the families of the fallen victims and wished those injured speedy recovery.He also urged the people of Hermel to "demonstrate maximum levels of self-restraint and awareness," taking the painful incident as an "incentive to close ranks and rally around the army and security forces, which must exert all efforts to unveil the perpetrators and bring them to justice." (pickup previous) oh.