Gunman takes hostages at Beirut bank to try to free his trapped savings
- Date: 11-Aug-2022
- Source: The Guardian
- Sector:Financial Services
- Country:Lebanon
Gunman takes hostages at Beirut bank to try to free his trapped savings
A Lebanese man armed with a shotgun has taken hostages at a Beirut bank and threatened to set himself on fire unless he receives his trapped savings, a security official has said.
The man, identified as 42-year-old Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, entered a branch of the Federal Bank in Beirut’s bustling Hamra district carrying a canister of petrol and the gun and took six or seven bank employees hostage, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
George al-Haj, the head of the bank employees’ syndicate, told local media that seven or eight bank employees and two customers were being held hostage.