Deadly blast hits Beirut
Violence seen as spillover from Syrian civil war
BEIRUT— An explosion tore through a crowded commercial street Thursday in a south Beirut neighbourhood that is bastion of support for the Shiite group Hezbollah, killing at least five people, setting cars ablaze and sending a column of black smoke above the Beirut skyline.
It was the latest in a wave of attacks to hit Lebanon in recent months as the civil war in Syria increasingly spills over into its smaller neighbour. The violence has targeted both Sunni and Shiite neighbourhoods, further stoking sectarian tensions that are already running high as each community in Lebanon lines up with its brethren in Syria on opposing sides of the war.
The Lebanese army said 20 kilograms of explosives were placed in a dark green SUV. It said authorities were investigating how the explosives were set off.
A security official said that human remains were found in and around the vehicle, and that authorities were investigating whether the blast could be a suicide bombing.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said at least five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the explosion, which left the mangled wreckage of cars in the street and blew out the windows of store fronts.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the explosion occurred “a few hundred metres from the politburo of Hezbollah.” It said the political office was not the target of the attack. Hezbollah’s deputy chief Sheik Naim Kassim told al-Manar that the blast was aimed at “the whole of Lebanon.”
“Suddenly, the whole area went bright and we started running away,” Ali Oleik, an accountant who works in a nearby office building, told The Associated Press. “I saw two bodies on the street, one of a woman and another of a man on a motorcycle who was totally deformed.”
The explosion comes a week after a car bombing in downtown Beirut killed prominent Sunni politician Mohammed Chatah. The former finance minister and top aide to ex-prime minister Saad Hariri was critical of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Hezbollah allies.
Kassim said the blast underscored the need for Lebanon to break its political deadlock. “Lebanon is heading toward destruction if there is no political understanding,” he told al-Manar.
The last government resigned in March, leaving a weak caretaker, and the country’s factions have been unable to agree on a replacement. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the targeting of south Beirut, less than a week after the bombing that killed Chatah “proves that the hand of terrorism does not differentiate between the Lebanese.”