An explosion in Lebanon, not far from the Syrian border, claimed the lives of five members of a Palestinian terrorist group and injured a number of others.
Israel was allegedly responsible for the explosion, according to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which said it had struck a position in the eastern town of Qusaya overnight with an airstrike.
However, an Israeli source claimed to the BBC that no military personnel were present.
According to Lebanese security officials, it was brought on by the movement of armaments.
It happens amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran-armed and -supported extremists in Syria and Lebanon.
Photos allegedly taken at the explosion site showed a destroyed building and a seriously damaged car.
In a statement, the PFLP-GC claimed that the Israeli force had bombed one of their sites and pledged to take revenge.
According to the statement, “This crime is not isolated from the recent and escalating events on the Lebanese and Syrian fronts, and within the framework of continuous Zionist threats targeting resistance forces inside and outside Palestine.”
Although government sources refuted the assertion, the Israeli military made no comments regarding it.
Reuters and AFP news agencies claimed Lebanese and Palestinian security officials as claiming the explosion was an accident brought on by mines or rockets going off as they were being transferred. The Lebanon’s army declined to comment.
A 1968 PFLP breakaway, the PFLP-GC is a relatively tiny militant organisation. It rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s for bombing an aeroplane and launching strikes into Israel from beyond international borders.
The PFLP-GC reportedly has several hundred members working in Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, according to the United States, which has branded the outfit as a terrorist organisation.
It claims that they receive financial backing from Iran as well as logistical and military support from the Syrian government, whose forces they have fought with during the civil conflict in that nation.
Early in April, the Israeli military launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon against what it claimed were Hamas-related infrastructure. The attacks were in retaliation for a barrage of 34 rockets launched the day before into northern Israel by extremists in Lebanon.