Lebanese troops dismantle bomb near southern city

Military experts dismantled Wednesday a bomb that was placed near a popular public beach in a southern Lebanese city, security officials said.

Photo: Lebanese troops dismantle bomb near southern city

Lebanese troops dismantle bomb near southern city

The bomb - a pack of 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives wired to a timer - was placed in an empty can of baby milk powder, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The location is some 500 meters (yards) away from the posh Rest House beach resort in Tyre and about 1.5 kilometers (mile) from the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh. Troops sealed off the area, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital, Beirut, as experts dismantled the bomb.

Tyre is popular with vacationing U.N. peacekeepers, who are deployed in the zone along the border with Israel to monitor a cease-fire that halted the war last summer between the Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel.

It is also a stronghold of the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.

Lebanon has witnessed a string of bombings in Beirut since fighting erupted between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in the country's north on May 20.

On Monday, a bomb exploded in an empty bus parked in a Christian Beirut suburb, injuring 10 passers-by.