Lebanese authorities arrest two suspects in July UNIFIL blast

Lebanese authorities arrested two people suspected of links in the July bombing of a UN peacekeeping patrol in south Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said Thursday.

The source said that after thorough investigation the Lebanese security sources arrested two men after a "remote control" was found that had been left behind near the site of the July 16 roadside bomb that targeted a United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol on Qassmiyeh Bridge near the southern port city of Tyre.

There were no casualties in the attack on the vehicle which belonged to the Tanzanian contingent, although the vehicle was slightly damaged.

A preliminary investigation showed that the two detainees were Palestinians with links to Jund al-Sham, an armed Islamic extremist group based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, the source said.

According to the source, a third suspect is still at large.

Shortly after the July 16 bombing, the Lebanese government linked the incident to the ongoing battle between the army and the Fatah al- Islam militants in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army has been battling with the Fatah al-Islam militants in the camp since May 20.

On June 24, three Spaniards and three Colombians serving in the Spanish battalion were killed in a car bomb attack targeting their patrol convoy in the main road between the towns of Marjayoun and Khiam near the Israeli border.

The June bombing was the first deadly attack against the 13,000- strong UNIFIL troops, which were deployed along Lebanon's border with Israel to enforce the UN Security Council resolution 1701 that ended 33-days of Israeli war on Lebanon in July 2006.