Car bomb (illustration)
Car bomb (illustration)Thinkstock

A car bomb near a Lebanese Army outpost in the northeastern city of Hermel Saturday has killed three soldiers and wounded six others, including four soldiers, according to the Daily Star

A suicide bomber driving a Grand Cherokee detonated the bomb after soldiers grew suspicious of him at a checkpoint on the city's outskirts, a security source told the daily.

Reports on the number of wounded vary wildly. While Lebanese sources hover at six wounded, CNN reports that eleven or more may be injured. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged the public to stay strong in light of the new attack, according to Al-Jazeera

"The attack on the military establishment exceeds a normal crime," Salam stated. "We urge everybody to unite."

This is the second suicide bomb in Lebanon this week. On Wednesday, a suicide bomb just outside the Iranian cultural center in Beirut killed four and injured at least 100. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed responsibility for the attack. 

In a statement the group said its campaign would continue until Hezbollah withdrew its forces from neighboring Syria and until jailed members of the Brigades were released from prison in Lebanon.

"We will continue - through the grace of God and his strength - to target Iran and its party in Lebanon (Hezbollah) in all of their security, political and military centers to achieve our two demands," the statement said. 

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades has a long history of targeting Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia group which has drawn anger among Sunni Muslims for aiding the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad against the mainly Sunni rebels fighting to oust him.

The group's most high-profile attack came late last year, as it claimed responsibility for the November 19, 2013 bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut. The blast ripped through the embassy, located in a Hezbollah stronghold of the capital, killing 23 people and wounding 146.