A car found with explosives is being taken away in the Corniche al-Mazraa neighborhood as the Lebanese army investigates the scene. PHOTO: Marwan Tahtah/Al-Akhbar

BEIRUT – Lebanon’s army arrested on Wednesday, Feb. 12, a senior al- Qaeda-linked militant described by officials as a “mastermind of car bombs” targeting mostly Shi’a areas in recent months.

Security sources said the arrest of Naim Abbas, who confessed to his organizational role, helped uncover two booby-trapped cars and two weapons depots and led to the arrest of several jihadi-linked individuals.

The sources added that Abbas’ arrest would also help uncover more fundamentalist jihadi cells that have been targeting army posts and areas under the control of Hizbullah.

The security sources said Abbas played a role in four recent car bomb attacks in southern Beirut and two more in the town of Hermel in eastern Lebanon. Scores of civilians were killed in the attacks.

Abbas’s capture is the second major arrest after another al-Qaeda-linked leader, Majid al-Majid, was seized in December. He died in custody due to kidney failure.

“He (Abbas) drove the suicide bombers to the southern suburbs. He is the mastermind of car bombs. He is as important as Majid al-Majid,” another source said.

Hours after Abbas’s arrest, security forces found a car loaded with 100 kg of explosives in the Corniche al-Mazraa district of central Beirut and another one with explosives near the town of Arsal, on the frontier with Syria.

The surge in violence in Lebanon is linked to the three-year conflict in neighboring Syria. Sectarian tensions have been rising on both sides of the border.