11 injured in third Lebanon bombing in a week

Lebanon's security services were reportedly on high alert Thursday the day after a suicide bombing at a four-star hotel in Beirut which injured 11 people.

A Saudi national blew himself up in at the Duroy Hotel in the capital's Raoucheh quarter as security forces stormed his room, a senior Lebanese official said.

The explosion sent flames shooting from the third and fourth storeys of the hotel, while a person was seen escaping from a window, according to eyewitnesses.

An accomplice of the suicide bomber who was also in the room survived the blast, the official said.

Seven civilians and 4 security personnel were also injured in the blast, according to Lebanese Red Cross Operations Director George Kettaneh. 

Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq, who visited the scene of the bombing, said the wounded bomber was in custody. The Daily Star newspaper reported that he was in the hospital and being interrogated. 

“This was a pre-emptive strike by General Security because the suicide bombers were supposed to carry out an attack in another location,” Mashnuq told reporters.

"This is not the first time that security forces have prevented a suicide bomber from reaching their target.”

LBCI television station reported that the bomber may have been alerted to the General Security raid by someone in the hotel lobby.

Authorities later carried out more raids in hotels in Hamra, Raouche and Ras Beirut in search of suspects.

The Saudi embassy in Beirut, meanwhile, said that it was coordinating with Lebanese security forces to determine the identity of the suicide bomber.

Separately on Wednesday, security forces arrested three Saudi women and two Syrian men in the Bekaa Valley, confiscating a suitcase believed to be filled with explosives, a security source told The Daily Star.

Also Wednesday, the Army announced it had arrested members of a terror cell planning to assassinate the head of General Security in north Lebanon.

Speaking to The Daily Star, a security source said the cell’s planned target, Lt. Col. Khattar Nassereddine, was close to Maj. Gen. Ibrahim, who was believed to be the target of last Friday’s bombing.

Wednesday's bombing came two days after a bomber blew himself up at an army checkpoint in Beirut's southern suburb, leaving two people dead, including a General Security sergeant, and 20 others injured.

Last Friday, a suicide bombing at in the eastern Lebanese town of Dahr al-Baidar killed a police officer on the same day a French national, who confessed to planning to carry out a suicide bombing, was arrested in a hotel raid, The Daily Star reported.