Lebanese TV station van set ablaze by unidentified assailants
Xinhua, May 11, 2017 Adjust font size:
An Al-Jadeed live coverage van was set ablaze by unidentified assailants at its headquarters in Beirut at dawn Thursday, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The attack targeted the channel's OB van, located in the parking lot, the NNA said.
The Al-Jadded reported that at 3:15 a.m. (GMT0015) on Thursday, security employees at the station heard an explosion and found one of their live coverage vans engulfed in flames.
The van was set ablaze by two unidentified men, the report added. An investigation was launched.
Al-Jadeed assistant editor Karma Khayat accused Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement of instigating the attack.
However, Berri's press office denied the claims in a statement, urging the judiciary to carry out the necessary legal proceedings against Khayat.
Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said "the investigation will go on and we will reach the desired results ... we have concrete information on the attack."
Information Minister Melhem Riachi said when visiting the channel Thursday that "this is totally rejected ... we need practical results."
On Feb. 14, scores of demonstrators carrying flags of the Amal Movement attempted to storm the Al-Jadeed headquarters in protest of a skit, which they believed had insulted the Shiite cleric Imam Musa Sadr. Endit