Lebanon marked a day of mourning Friday for the funeral of a slain boy and a youth who were abducted and killed in what was feared to be a vendetta. Family and friends were to attend the funeral for Ziad Ghandour, 12 and Ziad Qabalan, 25, who disappeared on Monday.
Their bodies were uncovered in the town of Jadra southeast of Beirut late Thursday, security sources said. They added the bodies lay next to a garbage container some 200 meters off the main highway connecting Beirut with south Lebanon.
Schools and universities, both public and private, closed Friday in honor for Ghandour and Qabalan, Naharnet reported.
One security source said initial tests suggested Ghandour and Qabalan were killed "a few hours after they were kidnapped." "The authorities have launched an investigation into the matter to determine the cause of death and the details of the incident," he said.
Their disappearance Monday triggered widespread concern, with rival Lebanese religious and political leaders calling for calm. According to eyewitnesses, Qabalan and Ghandour were abducted from their car, which was later reportedly left in Beirut's southern suburb of Shiyah.
Their families are members of the Progressive Socialist Party of Druze leader Walid Jumblat, a prominent figure in the anti-Syrian parliamentary bloc.
Jumblat, in a statement broadcast live by TV stations, called for maximum restraint, noting that only state authorities should handle the matter.
The media has speculated that there was a link between their kidnapping and the killing of pro-Hizbullah Adnan Shamas who was slaughtered during sectarian street clashes earlier this year. An Nahar daily said that interrogation with a number of witnesses has determined that the license plate number of one of the two cars used by the kidnappers corresponds to the Shamas family.
It said the license number likely belonged to the brother of Adnan Shamas.
The Shamas clan, however, said in a statement distributed on Wednesday that it was not associated with the abduction of the two youths.
The crime was denounced and condemned by politicians. Premier Fouad Saniora described it as a "national disaster" and stressed that "we shall not rest until the criminals are brought to justice."
