Beirut blast kills intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan - BBC News [getdailynow.blogspot.com]
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The BBC's Richard Coleburn says it is likely that intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan was the target of the attack
A senior Lebanese intelligence official was among at least eight people killed in a massive car bomb attack in central Beirut.
Wissam al-Hassan was said to be close to opposition leader Saad Hariri, a leading critic of the government in neighbouring Syria.
No group has claimed Friday's attack, which was condemned by Damascus. Dozens of people were injured.
Tension in Lebanon has been rising as a result of the Syrian conflict.
Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those who support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - including many Shias - and those mostly from the Sunni community who back the rebels.
Wissam al-Hassan
- Head of the intelligence branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces
- Sunni Muslim born in the northern city of Tripoli in 1965
- Responsible for the security of former PM Rafik Hariri
- Viewed as being close to the Hariris and the opposition 14 March coalition
- Responsible for the August arrest of pro-Syrian politician and ex-information minister Michel Samaha
Mr Hassan was regarded as an opponent of Syria within Lebanon's security services.
He led an investigation that implicated Damascus in the 2005 bombing that killed Mr Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
He also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Friday's attack, the deadliest in Beirut since 2008, occurred in the mainly Christian district of Ashrafiya, in a busy street close to the headquarters of Saad Hariri's 14 March coalition.
Members of the coalition have accused the Syrian government of being behind it.
However Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi called it a "cowardly terrorist act".
At the scene
There were chaotic scenes as emergency vehicles rushed to Ashrafiya just as the weekend was about to begin.
After a long period of relative calm this is the first big bomb attack in the Lebanese capital in four years. But many here had feared something like this would happen sooner or later and that Lebanon would be inevitably dragged into the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
Some Lebanese political leaders have already accused the Assad regime in Syria of being behind the attack, even though it is still too early to say who is responsible.
The danger now is not only that there may be further such attacks but also that tensions will grow between Lebanon's numerous armed and political factions - many of whom are defined by their positions on the Syrian conflict.
Lebanon's main Shia militant group, Helzbollah - a close of the Syrian government - also condemned the attack.
Sunni angerLebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government was trying to identify the perpetrators and said they would be punished.
Correspondents say Friday's bombing was reminiscent of scenes from Lebanon's civil war in the late 1970s and 1980s.
The blast, which was heard several kilometres away, set many cars ablaze and destroyed the facades of nearby buildings.
Ronnie Chatah, who lives nearby, told the BBC: "The building shook and it echoed throughout the neighbourhood."
About 80 people have been wounded. Hospitals across the city called for people to donate blood.
Reports say Sunni Muslims took to the streets and burned tyres in several parts of Lebanon in protest against the attack.
In Washington, state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US would "stand by the people of Lebanon" and reaffirmed her administration's "commitment to a stable, sovereign and independent Lebanon".
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