Beirut: A Lebanese military court charged 28 people with being affiliated with an Al Qaeda breakaway group and planning to carry out suicide bombings in the country, state media reported.

A total of seven suspects, arrested during military raids in hotel rooms, are already in custody. The judge also accused the suspects, linked with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), of buying detonators, explosives and weapons, as well as training suicide bombers to carry out terrorist acts in residential areas in Beirut.

Last month, Lebanese security forces raided the Napoleon Hotel in Beirut after receiving information about an attack plot on hospitals and several high-ranking security officials.

Over 100 people were interrogated during the security raid, but only a Frenchman, originally from the Comoros islands, was arrested.