Lebanese minibus hero helps thwart suicide bomber

Hussein Msheik is the driver of the minibus that was targeted by an unknown suicide bomber who blew himself up with an explosives belt in the area of Choueifat, south of Beirut, on Feb. 3, after Msheik discovered that the passenger was carrying a bomb. 

Msheik was transformed into a hero in the eyes of many, after his courage led to the thwarting of a suicide bombing that could have killed a large number of residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut. This area has recently been the target of a number of suicide bombings carried out using explosives-laden cars. 

The investigation showed that, prior to the explosion, the suicide bomber had visited an arms dealer in the Khaldeh region and purchased a Kalashnikov rifle. He then took a taxi, but got in an argument with the driver and later got out. The army leadership said that there were five kilograms (11 pounds) of explosives material in his suicide belt. Information also indicates that the bomber wanted to target a gas storehouse in the Bir Hassan neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where he perhaps intended to fire his rifle at people to hold them captive before blowing himself up in the storehouse. 

The explosion injured Msheik and a woman who was walking on the street nearby, yet the suicide bomber was the only one to die.