Beirut, Oct 13 (DPA) Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah denied late Monday that a member of the group was killed when a bomb left behind from the 2006 war with Israel exploded near his house.
Saeed Nasser, a Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon, “was wounded and not killed” in the blast in the village of Tayr Filsi on the southern bank of the Litani river, the Hezbollah source said.
A Lebanese security source in southern Lebanon earlier told DPA that Nasser was killed when he tried to defuse the bomb in his backyard.
“Reports on casualties are baseless,” the Hezbollah source said.
Ambulances and firefighting vehicles rushed to the scene where the Lebanese Army encircled the zone and prohibited access to the area.
According to unconfirmed reports, the blast occurred in an apparent ammunition depot housed inside the residence of the Hezbollah official.
But Hezbollah sources said that the explosion near the periphery of the village was due to 2006 war remnants.
Last July an explosion in an abandoned building in another southern village was said to have been caused by a fire in a Hezbollah arms depot.
Yasmina Bouziyan, UN spokeswoman in southern Lebanon, confirmed the explosion and said “they are looking into the causes of the explosion with the Lebanese army.”
