Nine hurt as car bomb rocks Beirut

Published on Saturday 19 March 2005 14:11

A CAR bomb wrecked the front of a building in a predominantly Christian suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut early today, wounding nine people, hospital officials said.

The motive and target of the bombing in New Jdeideh were not immediately clear. But the local legislator, Pierre Gemayel, called it an act of terrorism that could be an attempt to destabilise the country.

"This has been the message to the Lebanese people for a while - to sow fear and terror among Lebanese citizens," Mr Gemayel told Al-Jazeera television.

The message is "if there is a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, look what Lebanon will face," said Mr Gemayel, a member of the Christian opposition bloc in parliament and the son of ex-president Amin Gemayel.

The blast devastated shops on the ground floor of the adjacent building, and blew off the facades of the apartments on the first and second floors.

Three local hospitals gave a total of nine people treated for light injuries, most from flying glass and debris.

Some witnesses said the car attempted to stop in front of a bingo saloon, but security guards asked its driver to move along. The driver then parked the car a short way down the road. Minutes later it exploded. People were playing bingo in the saloon at the time of the blast.

The bomb dug a crater two metres deep. It also damaged parked cars and shop shutters in the street, a commercial area of shops on the ground floor with apartments above.

The explosion came amid major political turmoil in Lebanon in the wake of the February 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops to east Lebanon and Syria. Demonstrations, although largely peaceful, have kept tension high between the pro-Syrian and the anti- Syrian camps.

• Lebanon has pulled out of this year's Eurovision song contest because of the presence of an Israeli participant in the show, organisers said.

A statement posted on the Eurovision website said Lebanon was forced to withdraw because its national television station could not broadcast the Israeli portions of the contest, to be held May 19 and 21 in Kiev, Ukraine.