AFP, Beirut :Twin blasts claimed by the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group killed 41 people Thursday on a busy shopping street in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, in the worst such attack in years.More than 200 people were wounded, many of them seriously, said Health Minister Wael Abou Faour at the scene of the explosions, in a narrow shopping street in the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood.The attacks appeared to mark a return to the campaign against Hezbollah strongholds between 2013 and 2014, ostensibly in revenge for the militants’ support of regime forces in neighbouring Syria’s civil war.Two men wearing suicide vests carried out the attack, said the army, while the body of a third who had failed to detonate his explosive device was found at the scene of the second blast. The street in the poor mainly Shia neighbourhood, normally home to a market, was stained red with blood according to an AFP photographer, who saw bodies inside nearby shops.Surrounding buildings were badly damaged by the blasts and security forces were trying to cordon off the scene and keep people from gathering.IS claimed the attack, saying its “soldiers” detonated explosives planted on a motorbike on the street, in an online statement.The statement could not be independently verified, but it followed the usual format of IS claims of responsibility and was circulated on online militant accounts.Local television stations showed footage of wounded people being carried away by emergency services and civilians.”I’d just arrived at the shops when the blast went off. I carried four bodies with my own hands, three women and a man, a friend of mine,” a man who gave his name as Zein al-Abideen Khaddam told local television.Another described the sound of the explosions: “When the second blast went off, I thought the world had ended.”The wounded were evacuated to several hospitals in the area, including the Bahman hospital in neighbouring Haret Hreik.”We’ve received dozens of wounded people and they’re continuing to arrive,” a doctor there told AFP.Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam announced a national day of mourning for Friday, local media reported.Former premier Saad Hariri, who leads a political bloc opposed to Hezbollah and its allies, called the attack “vile and unjustified”.World leaders also condemned the attack, which French President Francois Hollande called “despicable”.Also read: Beirut art museum reopens to tell a troubled city’s historyThe White House offered its condolences for what it described as the “horrific terrorist attacks”, vowing that “such acts of terror only reinforce our commitment to support the institutions of the Lebanese state”.
