TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AFP) — Two people were injured, one of them critically, in a grenade explosion on Friday in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where sectarian clashes earlier this week left nine people dead, a security official said.
The official said the blast, which may have been accidental, took place in the Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood, where Sunni supporters of the Western-backed majority in parliament have battled Alawites loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition, which is backed by Syria and Iran.
Alawites are a secretive offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Their district in Tripoli is located right opposite Bab al-Tebbaneh.
The security official said one of the men wounded in the grenade blast lost one of his legs and was in a critical condition in hospital.
An army spokesman said initial reports indicate that the man was holding the grenade when it fell and apparently went off accidentally.
"Based on our initial investigation, the man who lost his leg was probably holding the grenade when it fell and exploded," the spokesman told AFP. "We don't believe someone could have thrown it from the Jabal Mohsen area."
The incident comes following fierce clashes last Sunday and Monday in the same area that left nine people dead and some 45 injured.
The violence threatened to derail a breakthrough accord last month to end a long-running crisis between rival political parties that brought the country close to civil war.
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