Beirut: Lebanese police on Sunday arrested the suspected mastermind behind blasts in southern district of the capital that killed dozens of people in November, a security source said.
The man, identified as Abu Talha, was accused of being the chief "coordinator" of a "cell that prepared a string of explosions in Lebanon" including in Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh district, the security source said.
He was seized in a special operation carried out by an elite unit of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) in the northern port city of Tripoli, the source told AFP.
The explosions in the densely populated neighbourhood of Burj al-Barajneh on November 12 killed 44 people. They were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
According to the security source, Abu Talha "was in communication with IS in Raqa," the de facto Syrian capital of the jihadist group's self-styled "caliphate".
Security forces had been monitoring Abu Talha for "a long period," including when he went into hiding after the December arrest of Bilal al-Baqqar, another prominent planner, the source added.
In an emailed statement, the ISF confirmed it had arrested Abu Talha in a dawn raid on a residential building in Tripoli.
AFP
