Beirut - A Sunni fundamentalist group called Fatah al-Islam claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed a soldier in north Lebanon over the weekend, according to a statement issued in the group's name on Monday. The authenticity of the statement, which was sent to most western news agencies in Beirut, could not be verified. Saturday's blast targetted a guard post at a military base in Abdeh.
The Lebanese army battled Fatah al-Islam for 15 weeks last year in fighting that left more than 400 dead, more than half of them armed members of the group. The leader of the al-Qaeda-linked group, Shaker al Abssi, is still at large.
On Saturday, the Lebanese army killed a suicide bomber before he was able to detonate his explosives at an army checkpoint outside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon.
Authorities were trying to pin down the identity of the bomber, who belonged to Jund al Sham, which has bases inside Ain el-Hilweh and is linked to Fatah al-Islam.
Local reports said inquiries showed the victim was in his early thirties and was neither Lebanese nor Palestinian, but possibly from a Gulf state.
Jund al-Sham is a militant group made up of Lebanese and Palestinian militants. It is headed by a wanted Lebanese extremist known as Ghandy Sahmarani, who goes by the code name of Abu Ramez.
The man was believed to have been working for a "dormant cell" that was recently instructed by al-Qaeda to move to Iraq.
According to a Lebanese security source the attacks against the army are aimed at "sending a message to the newly elected president, Michel Suleiman."
Suleiman was army commander when his troops crushed Fatah al- Islam, who were holed inside a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the daily As Safir reported Monday that terrorists were preparing to carry out sabotage attacks in Lebanon, including assaults on UN peacekeepers.
Citing information obtained from security circles, the report said security services in the north and south had been placed on alert in the wake of the information.
