Explosion Kills at Least 6 in Beirut
Pastor Dale Morgan
Explosion Kills at Least 6 in Beirut*
By SAM F. GHATTAS,
Associated Press Writer AP
BEIRUT, Lebanon - An explosion apparently targeting a police official
rocked a Christian neighborhood of Beirut on Friday, killing at least
six people and setting several vehicles ablaze, local media reported.
The private Future TV station, which is close to the government and the
Interior Ministry, reported that 10 people were killed, including Capt.
Wissam Eid, a senior police intelligence officer. Other Lebanese
stations said at least six were killed and 18 wounded.
Future and other TV stations said earlier that a "security convoy" was
targeted. Police had no immediate comment.
Lebanon has been hit by a series of explosions, some of them political
assassinations, amid a deepening 14-month political crisis. Friday's
blast came a day after a labor strike that was largely peaceful, and 10
days after a car bomb aimed at a U.S. Embassy car killed three bystanders.
The blast hit a street in Hazmieh, on the Christian eastern edge of the
capital. Video from the scene showed a huge plume of black smoke rising
from street and orange flames shooting up into the sky.
Several cars could be seen burning in a blackened area near a highway
overpass. Firefighters struggled to put out the flames.
TV footage showed at least three bodies, one slumped behind the wheel of
a delivery truck that was ripped apart, and two others on the ground
under a highway tressel.
Dozens of cars were wrecked and a massive crater was left in the broken
asphalt.