Al-Qaeda Group Claims Attack On Beirut Suburb

An al-Qaeda-linked group has said it carried out a suicide car-bomb attack killing at least four people in a Beirut suburb known to be a Hezbollah stronghold.Tuesday’s attack at 11.10am local time in Shia-dominated Haret Hreik ignited a library close to other government and residential

buildings.A group calling itself Jabhat al-Nusra in Lebanon, believed to be a branch of Syria’s al-Qaeda faction, said it carried out the attack.It said on Twitter: “With the help of God almighty we have responded to the massacres carried out by the party of Iran [Hezbollah]… with a martyrdom operation in their backyard in the southern [Beirut] suburbs.”It was the second attack in less than a month on the suburb.The Shia political party and armed group Hezbollah is an ally of the Syrian regime, and has sent thousands of fighters to battle alongside Syrian troops against a Sunni-dominated uprising.The conflict in Syria has polarised Lebanon and increased sectarian tensions. Violence has spilled over the border and several large explosions have hit the capital.Jabhat al-Nusra is the official branch of al-Qaeda in neighbouring Syria, and late last year a group calling itself the Jabhat al-Nusra in Lebanon emerged.source  [AlJazeera]