Lebanese officials say a suicide bomb attack on a cafe in the northern city of Tripoli has left at least nine people dead and 37 wounded.

Witnesses say a bomber set off his explosives inside the cafe, located in the predominantly Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen. There are also reports that a second suicide bomber detonated explosives outside as people gathered at the scene in Lebanon’s second-largest city.

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack. Security officials are investigating the bombing.

The cafe was on a street dividing Jabal Mohsen from the Sunni district of Bab-al Tabbaneh.

For decades, the neighborhoods have been the center of clashes, which have been further fueled by the war in Syria and the actions of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite.

A major flare-up of violence in Tripoli occurred in October.

Politicians across Lebanon’s deeply divided political field have consistently condemned the violence in Tripoli, a historic base for Sunni Islamist groups.
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