Car bomb hits centre of Beirut
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On Friday, an explosion in Sassine Square, in the mainly Christian part of Ashrafiya, killed three and injured more than eighty in a car bomb attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut, including senior Lebanese intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan. The bomb also destroyed several cars and badly damaged a multistory building. Witnesses said it could be heard several kilometers away. The area is home to the headquarters of the Maronite Christian group Kataeb. Although the target of the attack is unclear, it comes at a time of heightened tensions
On Friday, an explosion in Sassine Square, in the mainly Christian part of Ashrafiya, killed three and injured more than eighty in a car bomb attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut, including senior Lebanese intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan.
The bomb also destroyed several cars and badly damaged a multistory building. Witnesses said it could be heard several kilometers away. The area is home to the headquarters of the Maronite Christian group Kataeb.
Although the target of the attack is unclear, it comes at a time of heightened tensions in Lebanon because of the Syrian civil war. The leader of Kataeb, which is also known as the Phalange, Sami al-Gemayel is a strong opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He said: "Let the state protect the citizens. We will not accept any procrastination in this matter, we cannot continue like that. We have been warning for a year. Enough."
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Licensed archive reporting by Wikinews contributors. Text: CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/). Original source date retained. 411 has not independently verified this archive report.
Read the source: Wikinews ↗Source published 21 Oct 2012, 05:30 am IST
