Beirut bomb kills Lebanon ex-PM, opposition blames Syria

By: Karim Tellawi

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri was killed on Monday in a massive bomb explosion that tore through his motorcade.

The Lebanese News Agency, quoting a statement from American University Hospital, said Hariri dead on arrival, his body mutilated in the massive explosion which also at least nine other people, including several of his bodyguards.

Hariri’s motorcade was blown up as it passed along an exclusive section of the city’s waterfront Corniche.

The explosion close to the St George Hotel gouged a deep crater out of the road, ripped facades from luxury buildings and left half a dozen cars ablaze on streets carpeted with rubble.

It appeared to be the biggest bomb in the city since the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990. The blast could be heard even outside Beirut’s city limits and shattered windows in buildings hundreds of metres away.

Hariri, who resigned from government last October, had recently joined calls by the opposition for Syrian troops to quit Lebanon in the run-up to a general election in May.

The government has declared three-day mourning over Hariri’s killing, while opposition has blamed the Lebanese and Syrian governments for the incident.

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