Samya KullabNazih Osseiran and Nidal Solh| The Daily Star

BEIRUT/BAALBEK, Lebanon: An investigation was launched into a deadly blast that ripped through Lebanon’s restive northeast border town of Arsal Thursday, killing at least four people and wounding several others, a security source told The Daily Star. Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr tasked the Military Police and Army Intelligence with conducting the preliminary investigation, under the supervision of Military Judge Sami Sader, according to the National News Agency.

The attack targeted a meeting in the Sabil neighborhood of the Committee of Qalamoun Scholars, and was caused by a suicide bomber on a motorbike. The attacker is believed to be among the killed, the source said.

The committee is an independent group of sheikhs following up on matters related to Syrian refugees in the town. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and it is unclear why the group was targeted.

The dead were identified by the NNA as Omar al-Halabi, Alaa Bakour, Ali Rashouk and Fawaz Arabi. Arsal Mukhtar Mahmoud Fliti, standing at the scene of the attack, said that as emergency services were working to rescue people body parts could be seen strewn across the rubble but had not been identified.

The leader of the committee, Sheikh Omar Othman Mansour, is in critical condition, the source said. Other reports put the death toll at six.

Three sources in Arsal, including Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti, said the committee had convened to hold a religious wedding ceremony at the time of the attack.

According to Qassem Zein, a Syrian doctor who runs a field hospital in the town, four had died in the blast and seven were being treated in his facility. Two were in critical conditions and had sustained head injuries. “It’s the newlyweds,” he said. He said others were suffering from lacerations and broken bones.

“We can’t say who did it,” Fliti, the mukhtar said, adding that crime was on the rise among Syrian refugees in Arsal, “usually to settle personal accounts.”

The two-story building in which the ceremony was held was frequently used by the committee as a meeting space to resolve disputes between Syrian refugees in the town, according to Sheikh Jasem Askar, who was acquainted with two sheikhs killed in the attack.

“They are not scholars, maybe there are two senior sheikhs among them,” said Fliti, the deputy mayor.

“Most are imams from 17 villages in Syria.”

The committee often worked with charities, such as the Qatari Red Cross, to distribute aid to Syrian refugees in Arsal.

Local reports linking committee members to ISIS and Nusra Front militants in Arsal’s outskirts were denied by sources in the town. Askar acknowledged that the committee had “disagreements” with Nusra over the implementation of certain Islamic fatwas.

There are approximately 30,000 Syrian refugees in the town, according to the municipality, almost equal to the Lebanese population of 35,000.

Arsal has been the site of sporadic violence ever since Nusra and ISIS militants briefly overran the town in August 2014. Bombings have frequently targeted Army checkpoints posted between the town and its outskirts, where militants are positioned.