BEIRUT: Five brothers suspected in at least six brutal murders were arrested early Wednesday, capping off weeks of investigations by the Internal Security Force’s Information Branch.

The brothers, who were arrested in an overnight raid on their residence by the ISF in the Beirut neighborhood of Nabaa, were identified as Michel, George, Aziz, Movses and Maurice Tanielian. They are also known as the Bou Hanna family.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel led a team from the ISF’s Information Branch to Nabaa early Wednesday morning and arrested the suspects, who live in different apartments in the same building, a security source told The Daily Star.

According to the security source, Michel Tanielian told interrogators that he had been responsible for killing 10 people and had attempted to kill two others.

“Up until now, at least one of them [Michel] has admitted to killing ten people and injuring two others,” said the source, adding that Michel had previously been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of drug trafficking.

The source also said that the mother of the five brothers was also brought in for questioning later Wednesday.

One or more of the suspects in custody are believed to have used stolen taxis over the past two months to commit murders, killing some of the victims inside the taxis, which were later set on fire. At least six people, including a Lebanese Army soldier, have been found dead in different locations on the outskirts of Beirut.

The source said that Michel and possibly one of his brothers are allegedly responsible for the killing of Albert Ramez al-Nashar, 52, Shaker Saeed Abdul Nour, 48, Hussein Abdullah, Toufiq Toufiq, Ziyad Hani Deed and Hagop Yaacoubian.

Nashar’s body was found under the Antelias overpass north of Beirut, while Abdul-Nour’s body was discovered 7 kilometers away in Sin al-Fil.

The source also said that all five are Syrian nationals and three of the brothers, Aziz, Movses and Maurice, also have Lebanese citizenship.

The ISF had few leads due to the complexity of the cases and a lack of clues at the site of the killings, until a victim in the Beirut suburb of Tayyouneh survived his injuries and provided the ISF with a description of his attacker’s face.

Charbel confirmed the report and said the victim, identified as Elias Farid Assi, injured one of the suspects, thus leaving a blood sample for investigators.

Although investigators have yet to determine the intention of the killers, Charbel said that most of the victims were killed with a single gunshot to the back of their heads.

“The reasons behind the killings or their intent are not known yet, but we were able to match the pistol we retrieved and the bullets that killed the victims,” Charbel explained.

Charbel also said during the course of their investigation, the Information Branch rented a taxi and went after the suspects under cover.

“A group of Information Branch personnel rented taxis from a company, dressed up in the company’s uniform and drove in Kesrouan and Beirut,” said Charbel, adding that the mission failed to achieve any results.

According to the security source, investigators received a major lead over the weekend, hours after a Lebanese Army Lance Cpl. Ziad Hani Deeb, 30, was shot and killed in a manner similar to other victims.

“Having killed Deeb, one of the suspects stole his phone and made some phone calls in an attempt to find someone who would buy it,” said the source, who added that the ISF tracked the phone via a GPS tracking device.

Deeb’s body was found lying by the Beirut River close to Nabaa, the area where the suspects live. On the same day, the body of Hagop Yakoubian, 50, was discovered behind a church on Mar Maroun street in the Sadd-Boushrieh area, north of Beirut, about 500 meters from where Deeb lived.

According to the source, the ISF collected physical evidence from the suspects’ residences that links some of them to most of the recent killings.

“The 7.85mm pistol that was used in the killing of some ten people was found at the suspect’s residence and matched with the bullets that killed the victims,” the source explained.

While Michel was being interrogated at the ISF Information Branch’s headquarters the Interior Minister briefed reporters on the circumstances of the arrests.

“Every time this [ISF] branch does its duty we will support them, if they falter we will advise them, if they don’t follow orders, we will stop them,” said Charbel.