REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIRUT -- A suicide bomber blew himself up in his Beirut hotel room in the Raouche area on Wednesday, leaving 11 people injured, including an associate to the bomber and three Lebanese General Security members, according to local media.

The explosion took place when a security force searching for suspected terrorists raided the Du Roy hotel and broke into the room of the suicide bomber, according to Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA).

The NNA quoted Director of the Lebanese Red Cross Georges Kettaneh as saying that the injured had all been transferred to the American University Hospital in Beirut, and that "security forces arrested one of the injured who turned out to be an associate to the bomber who was killed immediately."

An al-Qaida-linked terror group known as "Liwaa Ahrar As Sunna," or the Free Sunni Brigade, has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a message on Twitter that the "operation was carried out by a Jihadi who blew himself in a Crusaders raiding force" in reference to the General Security force that raided the hotel. The terror group assured that "other Jihadis are now safe after leaving the area of the blast."

The group has previously claimed responsibility for several attacks carried out in Lebanon and vowed to continue "targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria."

The military prosecutor Judge Sakr Sakr, who inspected the hotel following the blast, confirmed that "a suicide bomber blew himself up while a General Security force was raiding the hotel room in which he was staying with an accomplice." He said "there are three members of the General Security who were injured in the operation."

Lebanese Minister of Interior Nouhad Mashnouk, who also inspected the site, said that "three general security members were injured and a Saudi national was arrested." He added that "what happened was a preemptive operation carried out by the General Security as the suicide bomber was going to blow himself up in a different place and the security measures prevented him from reaching his target."

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