On Sidon's court shootings

A high-ranking Lebanese ministerial source said on Tuesday commenting on the killings that took place yesterday at a Sidon courthouse that the general indication of the security and judicial investigation is that there is no connection between the crime and the trials taking place inside the courthouse.

The source stated that the nature of crimes which were being considered by the court against two convicts, including two Palestinians arrested under charges of forging foreign currency, do not necessitate committing such a crime by "professionals." He stressed that the shooting had political objectives, adding that choosing the court as a theater for the crime was a message, whose intentions would be eventually revealed.

Certain unofficial sides accused the "Asbat al-Ansar" group, led by the Palestinian Ahmad Abdul Karim al-Saadi (Abu Muhjin), who is sentenced to death in absentia in the case of assassinating former chairman of the "Islamic Charity Projects Society," Sheikh Nizar al-Halabi, as well as other crimes, most of which took place in Sidon and its northern entrance.

On Tuesday night news rumored in Sidon said that two gunmen who committed the crime escaped later on through the Sea Boulevard to Ein al-Helweh camp.