Four killed in car bomb explosion in eastern Beirut
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-12 16:10

At least four people were killed and ten others wounded in a car bombing explosion in eastern Beirut on Monday, police and witnesses said.

The explosion occurred in the Christian-dominated Mekalis area, setting nearby cars ablaze and damaging part of some buildings, witnesses said.

Police have cordoned off the area as rescue teams arrived to take the wounded to hospitals.

Local television stations said the explosion was caused by a car bomb, which is frequently used in previous similar attacks in the country.

It is not immediately known who the car bomb was targeting.

Lebanon has been gripped in a spate of bombing attacks since former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who fell foul of Syria, was killed in a massive car bombing in central Beirut on February 14.

These attacks mainly targeted anti-Syrian officials or public figures.

Damascus has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Hariri killing, but an interim UN report on the investigation into the assassination implicated Syrian and Lebanese security officials in the incident.