Hezbollah official claims the organisation is unaware of the attack on Rushdie
Salman Rushdie stabbed
Hezbollah, a Lebanese military group supported by Iran, claimed to have no additionalinformation on the stabbing of authorSalman Rushdie on Saturday, according to a group official.
Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the official told Reuters, "We don't know anything about this matter so we will not comment."
Iran, whose former supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to execute Rushdie for blasphemy, supports Hezbollah.
Police identified the alleged attacker as New Jersey native Hadi Matar, 24. According to Yaroun mayor Ali Tehfe, Matar is originally from Lebanon and his family is from the southern Lebanon town of Yaroun.
Tehfe said that Matar was born and raised in the US after hisparents moved there.
Tehfe claimed that he had "no information at all" about Matar's or his parents' political affiliations or support for Hezbollah.
(With inputs from agencies)