Almost certainly in retaliation for last week’s bomb attack on a Shiite neighborhood in southern Beirut. Note: The death toll has been raised to 42 with 500 injured since NBC’s story.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (NBC News) — At least 27 people were killed and more than 358 wounded in two explosions outside mosques in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli on Friday, the country’s health minister said.

The explosions, which appeared to be coordinated, went off outside two mosques as Friday prayers ended in the largely Sunni Muslim city.

“So far, we have 27 martyrs and 358 wounded,” Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters.

“I see seven bodies inside several burned cars,” said a Reuters witness, speaking from near the Taqwa mosque, which is frequented by Sunni Islamist hardliners, where the first blast occurred.

A security source said several people were killed in the second blast outside al-Salam mosque.