US condemns ‘horrific’ Islamic State suicide attacks in Beirut

The White House condemned the “horrific terrorist” twin bomb blasts claimed by the Islamic State extremist group that killed 41 people in Beirut on Thursday.

“Such acts of terror only reinforce our commitment to support the institutions of the Lebanese state, including the security services, to ensure a stable, sovereign, and secure Lebanon,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

The attack on a busy shopping street in a Beirut stronghold of the Shiite movement Hezbollah was the worst such assault in years.

The army said the blasts were carried out by two suicide bombers and that the body of a third, who had failed to detonate his explosive device, had been found at the scene of the second explosion.

“The United States condemns in the strongest terms today’s horrific terrorist attacks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed dozens and wounded hundreds more,” said Price.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the families and other loved ones of those killed and injured in this violence. The United States will stand firm with the government of Lebanon as it works to bring those responsible for this attack to justice.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam announced a national day of mourning for Friday, local media reported.

And former premier Saad Hariri, who leads a political bloc opposed to Hezbollah and its allies, condemned the blast as “vile and unjustified.”

French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as “despicable.”

Speaking from the scene of the attacks, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour said more than 200 people had been wounded, many of them in serious condition.

The blasts appeared to mark a return to a campaign of attacks that targeted the group’s strongholds between 2013 and 2014, ostensibly in revenge for its military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The blasts hit a narrow shopping street in the Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood that is also home to a street market.

IS claimed the blasts in an online statement.

“Soldiers of the Caliphate” detonated explosives planted on a motorbike in an area frequented by Shiites, using a derogatory term to refer to the sect, the statement said.

“After the apostates gathered in the area, one of the knights of martyrdom detonated his explosive belt in the midst of them,” the statement added.

The claim could not be independently verified but it followed the usual format of IS claims of responsibility and was circulated on jihadist online accounts.