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AL-QAA, Lebanon — A wave of suicide bombings targeted the Lebanese Christian town of al-Qaa, which borders Syria, on June 27. In the early hours, four suicide bombers detonated their explosive belts, followed in the late evening by four other suicide bombings. The attacks are an indicator of attempts by Syrian terror organizations such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State (IS) to break the siege imposed on them by Lebanese intelligence and security services. These attacks could also further fuel sectarian tensions in an area where the fallout of the Syrian conflict has created deep divisions across religious communities.

When Shadi Mkaled, an al-Qaa resident, woke up to eat breakfast before beginning his day of fasting, little did he know he would find himself face to face with four suicide bombers en route for an unknown destination.

According to a recording of the army’s interview with Mkaled, provided by an officer in the Lebanese military intelligence to Al-Monitor, he heard a noise in the garden at around 4 a.m. The family walked out to find four disheveled men who pretended to belong to the Lebanese army intelligence.

Suspecting foul play, Mkaled takes out a weapon and fires at one of them, who blows himself up. Roused by the blast, local residents and Lebanese army soldiers ran to the site of the explosion, clashing with the other three suicide bombers, who detonated themselves subsequently at 10-minute intervals.

“One rescue worker [Boulos Ahmar] who was trying to carry a wounded man was killed after the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt,” Shawki Toom, al-Qaa mukhtar (village head), told Al-Monitor.

“Al-Qaa was the intended target of the [first] quadruple bombings, which resulted in the death of nine people, including the suicide bombers, and injured 15 others. We still have no information on the attackers’ nationality,” al-Qaa Mayor Bashir Mattar told Al-Monitor.

The deadly spate of bombings resumed a few hours later at around 10 p.m. when four other suicide bombers targeted the central square of the town, a Lebanese army outpost and another manned by intelligence services, an officer in the army’s counterterrorism unit told Al-Monitor. According to Toom, six more people were injured, one critically.