Summary At least three people were killed in a suicide car bomb targeting an army checkpoint in Lebanon.
HERMEL (AFP) - A massive suicide car bomb targeting an army checkpoint in the eastern Lebanese town of Hermel near war-torn Syria killed two soldiers and a civilian on Saturday.
The bomb is the third this month to hit areas of Lebanon where the powerful Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah, which is helping the Syrian regime battle insurgents, is a dominant force.
The Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, a group named after Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, claimed the bombing on Twitter, indicating it was a revenge attack for Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian conflict.
The bombing drew condemnation from the United Nations, Lebanese Sunni Muslim leader Saad Hariri and new Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who unveiled a cabinet last month, ending months of political vacuum.
A medical official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said two soldiers and a civilian were killed in the Saturday's attack, and that 16 other people, five of them soldiers, were wounded.
The suicide car blast ripped through the army checkpoint which lies at the main entrance of Hermel in the Bekaa Valley, and at which cars are routinely stopped and searched by soldiers.
Immediately after the attack, military police imposed security measures in Hermel, as they searched for suspects and evidence, said the National News Agency (NNA).
Hezbollah-dominated parts of eastern Lebanon and southern Beirut have been hit by a wave of violent attacks in recent months, since the Shiite group acknowledged it sent fighters to Syria.
But until Saturday, the attacks had only killed civilians.
Hezbollah television channel Al-Manar broadcast amateur footage showing a huge fire over the checkpoint, and people screaming in the background.
