An al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility on Saturday for the suicide car bombing last week in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut that killed at least five people.
It was the first time the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for an attack in Lebanon and it has vowed that there will be more, the Associated Press reported.
The attack highlights how the growing war in Syria is increasingly spreading into neighboring Lebanon.
ISIL originated in the Sunni heartland of Iraq, where it has targeted Shiites with car bombs. Its fighters have fanned into Syria, becoming one of the strongest rebel groups in the war-torn country.
ISIL’s attack on Thursday targeted a south Beirut neighborhood that is a hub of support for the Shiite group Hezbollah, the AP reported.
It was “the first small payment of a heavy account which these criminal hypocrites should wait for,” ISIL said in a statement on a website used by Sunni militants, the AP said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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