Police say Beirut Bomb Death Toll Rises to Five

BEIRUT (AFP) – The death toll from a massive car bombing in the Lebanese capital on Friday that killed a senior security official has risen to five, a police official told AFP on Saturday.

“The death toll now stands at five people killed and 42 wounded,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A medical official said eight people were still in hospital and that the rest of those wounded were treated on the spot.

A previous toll from the attack in a mainly Christian neighbourhood in eastern Beirut said that four people were killed and 38 wounded.

Captain Wissam Eid, 31, a member of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the country’s top anti-terrorism investigator, was killed in the Hazmiyeh neighbourhood blast along with his bodyguard, First Sergeant Osama Mereb.

“Eid was a key member of the ISF and was involved in many investigations related to terrorist bombings in Lebanon in recent years,” a security official told AFP on Friday.

“He was involved in sensitive probes and this is a major loss for us.”

Eid and his bodyguard will be buried in their respective hometowns in northern Lebanon on Saturday, which the government has decreed as a national day of mourning with flags flying at half-mast on public buildings.

The interior ministry has promoted Eid posthumously to the rank of major, and Mereb was made a warrant officer.