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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Blast in Lebanese Christian town kills 2 |
| 2005-03-23 |
| An explosion tore through a business center in a Christian town near Beirut (search) early Wednesday, killing at least two people in the second deadly attack against an anti-Syrian stronghold since the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister last month. The political turmoil touched off by the assassination of Rafik Hariri (search) continued Tuesday as about 1,000 students shouting "Death to America!" and shredding a portrait of President Bush marched on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to criticize what they said was Washington's interference in Lebanon. The latest attacks have raised concerns among some Lebanese that pro-Syrian elements might resort to violence to show the need for a continued presence by Damascus forces. More broadly, they have aroused fears of the return of the sectarian violence that characterized the civil war. Shortly after midnight, a 45-pound bomb rocked the shopping center near Jounieh, the main Christian port city about 10 miles north of Beirut. Police said they believed it was placed at the center when it was closed. Police said two people were killed and two wounded. LBC TV, the leading station in the country, said three people were killed and eight wounded. It was the second bombing since Saturday, when a car bomb in a northern Christian suburb of Beirut injured nine people. The demonstrators on Tuesday, mostly supporters of the militant group Hezbollah, shouted "Death to Israel!" and waved Lebanese flags as they tried to push through barbed wire and a Lebanese army checkpoint. It was the second anti-U.S. protest in eight days organized by student groups backing the pro-Syrian government. On Tuesday, protesters called for the U.S. ambassador's expulsion and tore a portrait of Bush, who has repeatedly called on Syria to remove its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. Also Tuesday, a newspaper owned by the Hariri family said a U.N. team investigating his Feb. 14 assassination is expected to accuse Lebanese authorities of negligence and evidence tampering. The team completed its probe March 16 and is due to release its confidential report later this week, but leaks have emerged. Hariri's Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted unnamed sources said the fact-finding team found Lebanese security authorities had "tampered with evidence by rushing to tow away Hariri's motorcade from the scene of the crime" to a police barracks, "then sending on the same night a bulldozer to fill the crater and cleaning the road in order to open it to traffic." The government has said it is conducting its own investigation. Syria's foreign minister, indicating the pressure his nation is under from the United States to pull its troops out of Lebanon, said his country is implementing last year's U.N. Security Council resolution calling for its withdrawal and hoped the United States would not intervene militarily. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 I bet the LLL's won't report this as an attack on Christian's. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-03-23 9:09:05 AM |