Car bomb kills prominent Lebanon politician

BEIRUT

A POWERFUL car bomb tore through a business district in the centre of the Lebanese capital on Friday, killing a prominent pro-Western politician and at least five other people in an assassination certain to hike sectarian tensions already soaring because of the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

The blast, which wounded more than 70 others, set cars ablaze, shredded trees and shattered windows in a main street of the posh downtown Beirut area of five-star hotels, luxury high-rises and high-end boutiques. It sent a pall of thick black smoke above the nearby government headquarters and the seafront.

The bomb targeted the car of Mohammed Chatah, a former finance minister and a senior aide to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, security officials said. Chatah, his driver and four others were killed, the National News Agency said.

Hariri heads the main, Western-backed coalition in Lebanon, which is engaged in bitter feuding with Hezbollah group, a top ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The bombing recalled a string of assassinations of members of the anti-Syrian Hariri camp between 2004 and 2008, the biggest of which was the massive suicide bombing in 2005 in downtown Beirut — not far from the site of Friday’s blast — that killed Hariri’s father, Rafik, also a former prime minister. Hariri’s allies accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denied.

Friday’s blast came less than three weeks before the trial for those suspected in Rafik Hariri’s assassination was set to begin. Five Hezbollah members have been indicted for alleged involvement in the killing. Hezbollah rejects the accusations, and has refused to hand over the suspects.

Saad Hariri indirectly blamed Hezbollah for Chatah’s assassination.

AP