BEIRUT
(AP) — Lebanese troops detained 103 Syrians for illegal entry into the
country in a security sweep Tuesday, a day after a series of deadly
bombings struck a village near the Syrian border, the military said.

The
government warned of a mounting challenge in tiny Lebanon, which abuts
the war-torn Syria, underlining the magnitude of Monday’s attack that
saw nine bombings, eight of them from suicide attackers, strike in the
small Christian village of Qaa, killing five people.

“The
attack on the Lebanese national security and the unfamiliar manner in
which it was executed usher in a new kind of phase in the state’s
confrontation with the dark forces of terrorism,” a Cabinet statement
said.

The
bombings triggered fear and panic among Qaa’s residents and a deepening
sense of foreboding in Lebanon, which has grappled for over five years
with spillovers from Syria’s civil war.

Tuesday
was declared a national day of mourning and authorities postponed
funerals for the five killed in Monday’s bombings, citing security
reasons. A major religious event scheduled in the capital, Beirut, by
the militant Hezbollah group was also postponed.

Also
citing security concerns, the ministry of culture postponed the opening
of the Bacchus Temple, part of the famed ruins of Baalbek. A troupe of
Syrian actors roaming the Bekaa Valley with a performance about refugee
woes postponed its tour. A limited curfew was imposed in Qaa and the
surrounding area.

The
army said it carried out security raids in six areas in the Baalbek
region, which has many informal Syrian refugee settlements. It said nine
motorcycles and two vehicles were confiscated and two Lebanese were
arrested with illegal weapons.

Monday’s
explosions, four in the early morning and five at night, also wounded
nearly 30 in Qaa. Later in the day, two bombers blew themselves up
outside the village church as people gathered for funerals of those
killed earlier Monday.

The
army said one of the suicide bombers detonated his explosives as he was
chased by troops, while the other blew himself up near a military post
when guards fired at him. No one was killed but the two blasts wounded
13 people. Minister of Interior Nouhad Machnouk said initial
investigations indicate most of the bombers were from inside Syria and
not refugees. He didn’t elaborate.

Private
Lebanese OTV aired what it said was footage from security cameras in
Qaa, purporting to show a young man involved in the attack. The footage
shows the young man with a backpack heading to a gathering outside the
church, apparently to blow himself up.

Qaa
and the nearby Ras Baalbek are the only two villages with a Christian
majority in the predominantly Shiite Hermel region, where the Shiite
Hezbollah group holds sway. The group has sent thousands of its fighters
to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad’s forces against the
predominantly Sunni rebels trying to topple him.

Hezbollah’s
Al-Manar TV blamed Monday’s attack on the Islamic State group.
Al-Mustaqbal daily, which is owned by Hezbollah’s rival group, suggested
the army was the target of the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Sunni
extremists have carried out several attacks in the border area since
Syria’s conflict began in March 2011, leading the Christians of Qaa to
set up self-defense units for their village.