Explosive detonates at Hezbollah-backed minister’s home

Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — A bomb has detonated outside of a Hezbollah-backed Lebanese minister’s home in the eastern Bekaa valley. Caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh’s press office said in a statement Thursday that the explosive was wrapped in electrical cables and placed in his garden in the village of Taraya. The statement did not report any casualties and the reason for what happened remains unclear. Security forces are currently investigating the matter. Violent crime has soared across the crisis-hit country as it continues to suffer from an economic crisis that has plunged three-quarters of its population into poverty.