Emergency personnel and civilians gather at the site of a <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2015%2F11%2F12%2Fmiddleeast%2Fbeirut-explosions%2Findex.html" target="_blank">twin suicide bombing</a> in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut on Thursday, November 12. The two bombings killed at least 41 people and wounded over 200 more Thursday evening in southern Beirut, Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said.
Emergency personnel and civilians gather at the site of a twin suicide bombing in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut on Thursday, November 12. The two bombings killed at least 41 people and wounded over 200 more Thursday evening in southern Beirut, Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said.
ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images
Emergency personnel inspect the debris at the site of the bombing. The blasts shook Bourj al-Barajneh, one of the biggest and most well-known refugee camps in Lebanon, according to the state-run National News Agency. The camp is mostly populated by Palestinians.
Emergency personnel inspect the debris at the site of the bombing. The blasts shook Bourj al-Barajneh, one of the biggest and most well-known refugee camps in Lebanon, according to the state-run National News Agency. The camp is mostly populated by Palestinians.
ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images
Lebanese army investigators inspect the scene.
Lebanese army investigators inspect the scene.
Bilal Hussein/AP
Civilians chant at the site of the twin suicide attack.
Civilians chant at the site of the twin suicide attack.
Bilal Hussein/AP
The Lebanese news agency reported that two suicide bombers blew themselves up within 150 meters (490 feet) and five minutes of each other.
The Lebanese news agency reported that two suicide bombers blew themselves up within 150 meters (490 feet) and five minutes of each other.
Bilal Hussein/AP
A Lebanese soldier opens fire into the air to disperse people who gathered around a man on the ground whom they claimed was a suspected attacker.
A Lebanese soldier opens fire into the air to disperse people who gathered around a man on the ground whom they claimed was a suspected attacker.
Bilal Hussein/AP
Beirut suicide bombings

Story highlights

Lebanese interior minister says 9 people arrested in connection with bombings

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Thursday explosions that killed more than 40 people

CNN  — 

Nine people have been arrested in connection with a pair of deadly bombings in Beirut, Lebanon’s interior minister said Monday.

Terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the Thursday attacks that left more than 40 people dead in south Beirut, traditionally a stronghold for Hezbollah militants. CNN hasn’t confirmed the authenticity of that claim.

Seven of the suspects are Syrian and two are Lebanese, Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq said.

Widow of Beirut bomb attack hero: ‘He made us proud’

A would-be suicide bomber who survived the attack told investigators he was an ISIS recruit, a Lebanese security source told CNN.

Lebanese intelligence believes the bombers could be part of a cell dispatched to Beirut by ISIS leadership, the source said, but investigators are still working to verify the surviving suspect’s claim. The three other bombers were killed in the explosions.

The explosions detonated within 150 meters (490 feet) and five minutes of each other, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said, shaking an open-air market and other parts of the Bourj al-Barajneh district in southern Beirut.

At least 239 others were wounded, according to the National News Agency.

Beirut mourns its dead; weather comparisons to Paris

In addition to the human toll, the explosions damaged at least four nearby buildings. Video distributed by Reuters showed a dramatic scene in the bombings’ aftermath, with rescue workers carrying out victims past piles of rubble and through a mass of people.

ISIS, which does not have a large presence in Lebanon, claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the capital last year.

The country has seen plenty of violence involving numerous parties in recent decades, including the current fallout from the bloody civil war in neighboring Syria.