4 cafe-goers wounded in grenade attack in n. Lebanon

4 cafe-goers wounded in grenade attack in n. Lebanon

TRIPOLI: Four cafe-goers were wounded Wednesday when an unknown assailant on a motorcycle tossed a hand grenade into a coffee shop in the northern city of Tripoli, security sources told The Daily Star.

Authorities suspect that the men were attacked because they were eating during the hours reserved for fasting. Muslims began observing the holy month of Ramadan Sunday during which they fast from dawn to dusk.

The sources said one of the wounded was in critical condition after the 10:20 a.m. attack at the Badr Abu Makieh Cafe on Abdul-Hamid Karami Street, in the Tripoli neighborhood of Tabbaneh.

They identified the wounded as Jamil Badra and Hasan Ali Hussein, from Lebanese, and Taher al-Omar and Bilal al-Ali, from Syria.

Security forces are hunting down the attacker, the sources added.