Several women have taken up arms after two waves of deadly suicide bombings in a Lebanese Christian village on Monday, pictures show.
News of the bombings, which took place in two waves on Monday, killing five people, have shaken tiny Lebanon, which borders war-torn Syria.
The first group of bombers attacked before dawn and the second later at night, two of them blowing themselves up near a church.
No group has yet claimed responsibility, although many in Lebanon suspect ISIS were behind the attack.
On Tuesday, Lebanese troops detained 103 Syrians for illegal entry into the country in a security sweep.
“The attack on the Lebanese national security and the unfamiliar manner in which it was executed usher in a new kind of phase in the state’s confrontation with the dark forces of terrorism,” a Cabinet statement said.
The bombings triggered fear and panic among Qaa’s residents and a deepening sense of foreboding in Lebanon, which has grappled for over five years with spillovers from Syria’s civil war.
Tuesday was declared a national day of mourning and authorities postponed funerals for the five killed in Monday’s bombings, citing security reasons. A major religious event scheduled in the capital, Beirut, by the militant Hezbollah group was also postponed.
Qaa and the nearby Ras Baalbek are the only two villages with a Christian majority in the predominantly Shiite Hermel region, where the Shiite Hezbollah group holds sway.
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Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:47 - GMT 06:47