Lebanese security forces managed on Thursday to kill two the fugitive terrorists Osama Mansour and Ahmad al-Nazer in Miatayn crossroads in Tripoli city, and to arrest Khaled Hoblos, who is wanted for his involvement in clashes with the army in the Lebanese northern town of Bhannine late 2014.
An Internal Security Forces statement announced that a patrol of Intelligence Bureau arrested Hoblos while riding in a Kia Picanto vehicle that was driven by Amir al-Kurdi in the northern city of Tripoli.
“Soon after, an Opel vehicle, with two passengers on board, opened fire at the security forces, slightly wounding two members,” it said, adding that the forces retaliated at the car, killing the two passengers, who were later identified as Mansour and Nazer.
Mansour was possessing an explosive belt that a military expert has since dismantled, added the communiqué.
As-Safir local daily said Friday that the Information Bureau had been monitoring the telephone calls of a terrorist group, finding out that some of its members will be holding a meeting at a cafe in Tripoli’s Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.
An IB unit was summoned to raid the cafe and arrest the suspects. As it approached the scene, it was surprised with the appearance of two cars leaving the area at high speeds.
The security forces sought to block their road against one of the cars, which was transporting Mansour and Nazer, in order to apprehend the passengers.
They were instead met with gunshots from the other car that was following it and transporting Hoblos and three of his armed companions.
Two members of the ISF unit were seriously wounded in the clash that lasted about five minutes, added As Safir.
Mansour and al-Nazer were killed in the unrest, while Hoblos was wounded and transported to the ISF General Directorate in Beirut where investigations are underway with him.
His companions in the car managed to flee the scene.
The army has since cordoned off the area where the clash took place and forensic experts discovered a number of weapons, hand grenades, and explosive belts in the fugitives’ abandoned vehicles.
Lebanese army has been chasing terrorists hidden in Tripoli and the surrounding neighborhoods, who were involved in clashes with the army since Nahr al-Bared battles.
Takfiri groups have a long history of violence in Lebanon, and they have gained strength when the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL)takfiri organization and al-Qaeda-affiliate group al-Nusra Front infiltrated into eastern Lebanese region of Arsal and kidnapped an army unit last Summer.
NNA
