Lebanese political class condemns deadly bombings

Lebanese political leaders were unanimous Friday in condemning a pair of deadly carbomb attacks at Sunni Muslim mosques in the northern city of Tripoli.

The explosions left 37 people dead and 336 wounded, according to the latest casualty figures from Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, though Tripoli’s mayor said more than 50 died.

The targets of the bombings were “peaceful and innocent citizens who came out of holy places,” President Michel Suleiman said, alluding to the timing of the blasts, which occurred as people were leaving the mosques after Friday prayers.

“The Tripoli massacre engenders discord and disturbances,” the president said in a statement.

The first explosion came at the alTaqwa mosque in the center of Tripoli, followed minutes later by another blast outside the alSalam mosque, near the city’s port.

Both mosques are led by Salafist imams with ties to rebels in neighboring Syria.

Neither imam was hurt in Friday’s attacks.

The alSalam mosque is close to the private residences of Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, and Gen. Ashraf Rifi, a former chief of internal security.

While Mikati was in Beirut on Friday, Rifi was at his home and suffered slight injuries, police sources told Efe.

Mikati called the bombings a “clear message to sew discord and provoke reactions.”

The man named to succeed Mikati as premier, Tamam Salam, spoke of a “diabolical plan” to foster “sedition.”

Friday bombings in Tripoli came just over a week after a carbomb attack left 27 people dead and 336 injured in a Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of the Shi’ite Hezbollah movement.