TRIPOLI, Sept 29: A car bomb killed four soldiers on an army bus and a civilian passer-by in northern Lebanon on Monday, in the second attack on the army in less than two months, security sources said.

The blast also injured 35 people in Tripoli, scene of an Aug 13 bombing that killed 10 soldiers and five civilians at a bus stop.

The car bomb exploded during the morning rush hour in the Buhsas area at the southern entrance to Lebanon’s second largest city, hurling mangled metal through the bus, damaging other vehicles and shattering windows of nearby buildings.

“Once again the hand of treachery has reached the military institution in a clear targeting of security and stability,” the army said in a statement, describing the bombing as a terrorist act. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Last year the army crushed the Al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam group at a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. At least 430 people were killed, including 170 soldiers and 220 militants, in 15 weeks of fighting that destroyed the camp.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country dominated Lebanon for three decades until 2005, warned earlier this month of a danger from what he called foreign-backed extremists in Tripoli a predominantly Sunni city.

Ad-Diyar newspaper said on Monday that Islamist militants posed a growing threat, especially in north Lebanon. “These elements have increased their presence,” the newspaper said in a front-page story published hours before the Tripoli bombing.

Syria sent hundreds of troops to its border with north Lebanon last week in a move that fuelled speculation over Syrian motives. The Lebanese army said the deployment was to combat smuggling.—Reuters