Lebanese Minister urges patience in investigation as Beirut death toll rises to 24

The death toll in the blast that rocked Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh on Thursday rose to 24, announced the Red Cross on Friday according to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3). It had state earlier that 248 people were wounded in the blast. Meanwhile, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told VDL that video camera footage is being studied to find attacker and determine whether it was a suicide bomber that carried out Dahieh attack. “We cannot jump ahead of the investigations,” he said. “We must be given some time to find the leads,” he urged. A car bomb attack took place in Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported. The blast went off on the public road between Bir al-Abed and Ruwais. Later on Thursday, a group calling itself the Brigades of Aisha Umm al-Moemeneen claimed the bombing in a YouTube video and threatened further attacks over Hizbullah's involvement in the fighting in Syria. On July 9, a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot in Bir al-Abed, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage. In May, two rockets slammed into the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyyah, wounding four people.