Lebanon: Israel blamed for the killing of senior Islamic Jihad member

A car bomb killed a senior Islamic Jihad official and his brother in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Friday, Lebanese security sources and officials of the Palestinian group said.

The blast targeted Mahmoud Majzoub, known as Abu Hamze, and his brother Nidal -- also an Islamic Jihad member.

Security sources in Lebanon said the explosion went off when the men, who were in the same car, turned the ignition. The incident, near the Abu Bakr mosque in Sidon, appeared to have been caused by a bomb planted in the vehicle, they conveyed.

Lebanese security sources earlier said that Abu Hamze himself had been wounded. "Mahmoud al-Majzoub was critically wounded. Authorities told now us he is out of danger. But there was another martyr who was killed," Islamic Jihad representative in Beirut Abu Imad al-Rifai told Al Jazeera television. Rifai said it was the second assassination attempt on Majzoub, and blamed Israel for the blast. An Israeli military source said "he was not aware" of any involvement by Israel, Reuters reported.

It should be noted that Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted Islamic Jihad members in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.