A bomb exploded in a street-side cafeteria known as a hangout for low-income laborers, wounding at least three people, including two Syrians, police and witnesses said. The bomb, apparently a stun grenade, was thrown from a car around 9:30 p.m. in the Muslim neighborhood of Cola, police officials said on condition of anonymity. The Cola district was long a center for Syrian laborers seeking daily jobs along with Lebanese workers, though the vast majority of Syrians have left Lebanon amid its current upheaval.A waiter said the bomb was tossed from an overpass, exploding and punching a hole in a large plastic tent that covered the "Ali Mohammad Rest Stop" cafeteria in the low-income neighborhood. Damage was minor, and workers quickly set back up the cafeteria's plastic tables and chairs. The waiter, speaking also on condition of anonymity, said three customers and one waiter, a Syrian national, were injured. Police officials put the toll of wounded at three, including two Syrians. About two hours later, a dynamite stick was thrown in an empty lot in the south Beirut neighborhood of Maamoura, causing no damage or injuries, police said.
Syrian laborers, who at times numbered about a million and worked mainly in construction and farming, have been attacked in many parts of Lebanon amid the rising anti-Syrian sentiment and at least two were reported killed. It was the latest bomb blast in a country that has seen two months of political turmoil. Five explosions — most from bombs planted under cars — detonated in mainly Christian neighborhoods, considered centers for the anti-Syrian opposition, killing three people and wounding 24 in late March. There have been no bombings since April 8.