BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Lebanese police said Wednesday that a car bomb packed with 44 pounds of TNT caused the explosion that hit a U.S. Embassy vehicle, killing three passersby and once again putting Americans in the country on alert for attacks. The bombing was the first in more than two decades targeting American diplomats in Lebanon, and the U.S. Embassy restricted the movement of its staff in response.
The bombing, which took place as President Bush was touring the Mideast, highlighted growing chaos in Lebanon. The country has descended into violence over the last three years after almost a decade of calm following its long civil war.
U.S. diplomats are deeply involved in the country's fractured politics, supporting the government against the Syrian-backed opposition. The sides have been deadlocked over choosing a new president.
The armor-plated Embassy SUV was damaged in the bombing Tuesday on a Beirut highway, and its Lebanese driver and an American theology teacher at a nearby church were among 26 people injured. Two Lebanese and a Syrian bystander were killed.
Police had initially said the bomb was placed between two garbage containers on the side of a narrow road adjacent to the main highway. After inspecting the site of the attack Wednesday, the office of national police chief Brig. Gen. Ashraf Rifi said the explosives were hidden in a 1980 Honda sedan that was parked next to the garbage containers. The car was reported stolen five years ago.
Lebanese troops set up checkpoints and diverted traffic near the seaside highway where the bomb exploded—one of the roads that embassy staff would have had to take to attend a farewell reception for the departing U.S. ambassador scheduled later Tuesday. The reception was canceled.
The targeted vehicle was apparently one of the embassy vehicles that routinely scout roads before U.S. diplomats travel, Lebanese security officials said.
The bomb killed two Lebanese who were in a vehicle that was traveling behind the U.S. one and took the brunt of the blast, Lebanese security officials said.
The explosion sent a pall of gray smoke over the highway, damaged several other cars, blew out nearby windows and knocked down facades of adjacent buildings in a largely industrial zone. The Syrian man who died had been riding a scooter on the road.
It was the first such attack against a U.S. target in 23 years in Lebanon. In the 1980s, at the tail end of the country's 15-year civil war, Americans were so frequently targeted that the United States imposed a blanket ban keeping Americans from traveling there. That ban was lifted in 1997.
The Embassy advisory did not say how many of its personnel were under the new restrictions on movement. The embassy, about 8 miles from the explosion site in the suburban hills northeast of Beirut, already is heavily fortified, protected by American and Lebanese security with a strong Lebanese army presence in the area.
"The Embassy ... reminds all Americans in Lebanon to maintain a high level of vigilance, especially when planning travel," the advisory said. "Americans are also advised to avoid popular gathering spots."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed outrage over the attack on Tuesday.
"The United States will, of course, not be deterred in its efforts to help the Lebanese people, to help the democratic forces in Lebanon," she said in Saudi Arabia, where Bush was touring.
Political tensions are high in Lebanon, more than a year into the crisis marked by a series of bombings and political assassinations that began in 2005. Most attacks have targeted anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
But the latest harkened back more to the bloody 1980s—when Lebanon was the site of some of the deadliest terror attacks against Americans ever, including the 1983 Marine barracks suicide truck bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members.
That same year, the U.S. Embassy was also hit by another suicide car bomb, killing 63 people including 17 Americans. In 1984, the embassy's new compound at Aukar was also targeted by a suicide bombing, killing 12.
The United States had deployed military units in Beirut at the time, in the aftermath of Israel's invasion of the country, but then- President Ronald Reagan withdrew them after the Marine barracks attack.
The U.S. withdrew all diplomats from Beirut in September 1989 and did not reopen its embassy until 1991.
Even before Tuesday's attack, U.S. diplomats in Lebanon were subject to strict security rules that prohibit them from bringing their children to live with them, and require them to travel with armed guards.