Casualties in Beirut suburb blast

A blast in a northern suburb of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, has killed at least two people, according to a police official.
“Two people were killed in the blast that took place in a parking lot, near a commercial centre,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The two victims were identified as Ihsan Dia and Hassan Nassar, AFP news agency reported.
Lebanese television said they were believed to have been handling explosives inside their vehicle when the blast went off.
According to security officials, it is not immediately clear if the bomb, which exploded in the busy area of Antelias, a suburb north of Beirut, went off by mistake or whether it had a timer.
“They were either holding the bomb or had explosives strapped to their bodies when the blast occurred,” said one official. “Their bodies were torn apart.”
“We also believe they were sitting inside a car or standing right next to it,” he added.
A witness told AFP he saw rescuers carrying away from the site a man whose arm and leg had been torn off in the explosion.
A pool of blood could be seen on the ground in the car park.
The police official said a car belonging to the son of Lebanese judge Albert Serhan was in the car park when the blast went off but it was unclear whether it was targeted.
“I don’t think we were targeted and the car just happened to be parked there,” Judge Serhan was quoted by LBC, a local television channel, as saying.
“My son is an engineer and he parks his car in that lot, along with his colleagues, near their office,” judge Albert Serhan also told AFP by telephone. “I have never been threatened nor does anyone in my family dabble in politics,” he added.
Army and police forces immediately rushed to the site along with the Red Cross and sniffing dogs, and cordoned off the area.
Lebanon was rocked by a wave of assassinations from 2005 to 2008 which killed anti-Syrian journalists and politicians.
Rafiq Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon, was killed in a massive Beirut bombing on February 14, 2005 along with 22 others.
The Hariri assassination led to a wave of mass protests which, combined with international pressure, forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April 2005, ending a 29-year deployment.
Following on from the assassination of Hariri, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was created in 2009 in an attempt to capture and try those responsible for the murder.

Source: Agencies