TYRE, Lebanon: Two near-simultaneous explosions shook the southern port city of Tyre early Wednesday in what appeared to be attacks related to the sale of alcohol.

The first bomb ripped through a pub at the Queen Elissa Hotel popular with U.N. staffers in the southern port city of Tyre at 4:55 a.m. Bricks and debris littered the outside of the hotel but no casualties were reported.

The other explosion went off five minutes later at a wholesale liquor store near Tyre’s port, also causing damage but no casualties.  

Deputy spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Andrea Tenenti said the peacekeeping mission was not the target of Wednesday’s bombings.

“There is no indication whatsoever that the U.N. was the target,” Tenenti told The Daily Star.

He said there were a number of international UNIFIL staff at the Queen Elissa Hotel at the time of the explosion and confirmed that a “couple” of U.N. vehicles were among the several damaged cars.

“An investigation is under way by Lebanese authorities and we are waiting for information,” Tenenti added, pointing out that UNIFIL had not been involved in the probe.

Police explosives expert Adjutant Talal Ajram estimated some 3 kilograms of explosives were used in each blast. Samples of the explosives were sent to Beirut to determine the type of explosives used.

Commenting on the early-morning explosions, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel urged that the issue not be regarded as targeting the UNIFIL, saying the incidents centered on the fact that the establishments served alcohol.

“What happened today in Tyre is not security-related but linked to the sale of alcohol,” Charbel told Voice of Lebanon (93.3 FM).

Lebanese security forces had cordoned off the area around Queen Elissa Hotel, preventing reporters and photographers from getting close to the site.

The bomb destroyed the ground floor restaurant at the three-story hotel and shattered windows.

Sources said that in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, UNIFIL had issued a brief warning to all personnel to remain indoors. However, the notice was canceled a few hours later.

Lebanon’s tourism minister, Fadi Abboud, voiced concern about the explosions and said they were linked to the “spread of fundamentalism in the Middle East.”

“What happened in the south I categorize as part of what is happening in the Middle East, specifically the spread of fundamentalism in the Middle East,” Abboud told a local radio station.

The minister said the explosion “carried many messages, the most important centering on the future of co-existence among the religious [sects] in the country.”