Beirut blasts explosives revised: report

BEIRUT, Lebanon－Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Tuesday that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had indicated in a report that Beirut's blasts were caused by 500 tons of ammonium nitrate, not 2,750 tons as stated in previous reports.

"Where have the 2,250 tons of ammonium nitrate gone?" Diab asked during a discussion with reporters.

"Who is the owner of the ship that brought the nitrates, how did it enter Lebanon and who allowed it to enter Lebanon? Did security services know about it?" Diab asked.

Diab said that the Higher Defense Council held 20 sessions this year, and none of the security agencies informed him of the presence of the ammonium nitrate at the port.

Two huge explosions on Aug 4 caused at least 200 deaths and injured around 6,000 while leaving 300,000 homeless.

A team of FBI and French investigators participated in the initial investigations into the explosions, which Lebanese authorities then announced were caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in one of the port's warehouses.

Diab noted that if there is an indictment against him in the case, it should be sent by the judicial investigator through parliament, according to the constitution.

He said that he was first informed of the presence of TNT, which was highly explosive, then a report followed stating that chemical fertilizers were stored in the warehouse for about 7 years.

Waiting for answers

He assured that when he received a final report on July 22, he forwarded it to the relevant ministers to deal with the matter.

Nearly five months after the blast, little light has been shed on the circumstances that led to Lebanon's worst peacetime disaster, widely blamed on decades of negligence and corruption by the country's ruling elite.

Fadi Sawan, the judicial investigator in the Beirut's port explosions, has formally charged Diab and former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Fenianos for negligence in the case.

He charged them with "negligence and causing death to hundreds and injuries to thousands more" in the first such official indictment against a prime minister in office in Lebanese history.

Khalil and Zeaiter requested the dismissal of Sawan due to a breach of the constitution, claiming that they have parliamentary immunity that requires the approval of parliament before taking any judicial action against them.

The Public Prosecutor's Office suspended on Dec 17 the investigations into the port's explosions pending a decision on the dismissal request.

Lebanese authorities have arrested 25 people related to the explosions after the investigations, including senior officials at the port and customs.

Xinhua - Agencies