One person was reportedly killed and two were injured in an explosion that rocked the offices of the Kuwaiti embassy’s information center in Beirut’s commercial street of Hamra on Monday. The victim was identified as the Lebanese employee Eyas Al-Alayli, security at the scene said.
There were conflicting reports about the blast which was attributed first to a hand grenade, then to a letter bomb and then to a parcel bomb. Hours after the blast, police investigators on the scene were quoted as saying Al-Alayli was toying with a hand grenade he brought into the office at midmorning when it went off in his hands. He was rushed to the American University Hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.
According to Kuna, the explosion took place in the tenth floor of the building housing the office in Al-Sanae' area.
"The incident is not a terrorist act," said Kuwait's Ambassador Ali Suleiman Al-Saeed after inspecting the scene. "It was an accident."
