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Powerful Blast Shakes Lebanese Capital Powerful Bomb Shakes Lebanese Capital
(about 1 hour later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A powerful explosion shook central Beirut Friday morning, rattling windows and sending a black plume of smoke into the sky. BEIRUT, Lebanon — A powerful bomb shook central Beirut Friday morning, rattling windows and sending a black plume of smoke into the sky.
Local television broadcast images of the blast scene in front of the Starco building, a downtown tower notable for having survived unscathed through the civil war from 1975 to 1990 that gutted much of the surrounding area. Several dead bodies and many wounded people can be seen in the footage, and the sound of ambulances converging on the site of the explosion can be heard. Lebanese Red Cross officials reported five dead and 15 injured in the blast. The Associated Press, citing security officials, said that Mohammed B. Chattah, a former Lebanese government minister and ambassador to the United States, was among the victims and possibly the target.
It is the first bomb to hit downtown Beirut in several years, although several car bombs have been detonated in the southern suburbs in recent months. The bombing on Friday brings the violence, which many believe is linked to the war in neighboring Syria, to the heart of Beirut’s downtown business district. LBC, a Lebanese television channel, also reported that the bomb targeted Mr. Chattah, a senior member of the Future bloc, the mainly Sunni party headed by Saad Hariri, the son of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a 2005 bombing in Beirut. Future is seen as supportive of the Syrian insurgency and close to Saudi Arabia, one of the insurgents’ main international backers. Lebanon is deeply divided over the civil war in neighboring Syria, with the Shiite militia and political party Hezbollah supporting the Syrian government.
Mr. Chattah, in a Twitter message Friday morning, was critical of Hezbollah, saying it was seeking to gain similar powers in Lebanon to those that Syria had during its occupation of parts of the country from 1976 to 2005.
Local television broadcast images of the blast scene in front of the Starco complex, a downtown site notable for having survived unscathed through Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990 that gutted much of the surrounding area. Several dead bodies and many wounded people could be seen in the footage, and the sound of ambulances converging on the site of the explosion could be heard.
It is the first bomb to hit downtown Beirut in several years, although several car bombs have exploded in the southern suburbs in recent months. The bombing on Friday brings the violence, which many believe is linked to the war in neighboring Syria, to the heart of Beirut’s downtown business district.
Security has been heightened downtown, with soldiers standing guard at key intersections in armored vehicles. Jihadist groups fighting alongside the Syrian rebels, including Lebanese militants, have threatened to increase attacks in Lebanon over Hezbollah’s intervention on the side of the Syrian government. There have also been fears of retaliation against Saudi or Sunni targets after bombings that targeted Hezbollah and the Iranian Embassy in recent months.

Hwaida Saad and Mohammad Ghannam contributed reporting from Beirut.