Deadly blast rocks Lebanese city

At least five people have been killed in a suspected car bomb attack on a military bus carrying soldiers in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Witnesses said the blast happened on the outskirts of the city during morning rush hour. Some 30 people are believed to be wounded.

Several soldiers as well as civilians were killed in a similar blast on a bus in the city last month.

Lebanon’s leaders said the attacks were an attempt to destabilise the country.

Efforts have been under way recently to try and reconcile Lebanon’s rival factions after a wave of violence in May pushed the country close to civil war.

Pro-government Sunni fighters and pro-Syrian gunmen, whose fighting has centred on Tripoli, agreed to a peace deal earlier this month.

Threatened deal

Lebanese officials said the blast came after a car parked by a busy roadside near the southern entrance to the city was detonated by remote control.

The explosives were believed to have been mixed with nuts and bolts, and shattered nearby windows and damaged other cars.

The blast appeared to target a military bus that was passing through morning traffic in the Bahsas neighborhood at the time.

Security sources said four of the dead and at least 21 of the wounded were soldiers, the rest were civilians.

TV pictures showed soldiers sealing off the area and preventing people from approaching the scene of the blast.

Government officials said an investigation into the attack was under way, but no one had yet claimed responsibility.

At least 14 people were killed in a similar attack on a bus in the city in August. Several of the victims were off-duty soldiers.

‘Terrorist act’

“Once again the hand of treachery has reached the military institution in a clear targeting of security and stability,” the Lebanese military said in a statement after Monday’s attack.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the bombing was aimed at undermining efforts to reconcile Lebanon’s various rival factions.

Syria too denounced the bombing, calling it a “terrorist and criminal act”.

A similar bombing in the Syrian capital Damascus killed at least 17 people just two days ago.

The Syrian authorities have blamed the attack on Islamist extremists, and say the car came from a “neighbouring Arab country”.

Some analysts believe this new trend for car bombings in the region is directly linked to the changing situation in Iraq.

As the security situation improves there, analysts say, so insurgents are driving their members across the border into neighboring countries.

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Lebanese city rocked by bus bomb

At least 11 people have been killed by a blast in the center of the Lebanese city of Tripoli, the military says.

Security officials said a bomb went off close to a bus whose passengers included a number of off-duty soldiers.

The port city has been the scene of sectarian fighting in recent months in which more than 20 people have died.

The attack comes a day after the new national unity government won a vote of confidence and as President Michel Suleiman was due to travel to Syria.

The hands of the criminals have hit in Tripoli against innocent soldiers and civilians Tareq Mitri, Information Minister

No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded at least 30 people.Some reports put the number of dead at 18.

Nine of those killed were reported to be soldiers who had been travelling on the bus. The army has said it believes it was directly targeted by the attack.

Mr Suleiman described the explosion as “a terrorist act”.

“The army and security forces will not be terrorised by attacks and crimes that target it and civil society, and the history of the army attests to that”, he said in a statement.

Syria’s foreign ministry said it “staunchly denounced the criminal attack that killed many innocent civilians”.

‘Many interpretations’

Reports say at least 30 people were injured by the blast

Lebanese Information Minister Tareq Mitri told reporters in Beirut that an investigation was taking place but he did not speculate on who had been behind the attack.”The investigation has begun and there are many interpretations, political interpretations”

Mr Mitri said the government would “make every effort” to support the people of Tripoli.

“The hands of the criminals have hit in Tripoli against innocent soldiers and civilians”, he said.

“Once again, they want our country to be an arena for settling scores and battling for influence.”

Correspondents said it appeared the bomb was intended to disrupt the groundbreaking presidential visit, which was hoped to patch up years of stormy relations between the two neighbours.

The bomb went off in Masarif Street in Tripoli’s busy commercial district.

TV footage showed the surrounding area spattered with blood and covered in broken glass. The strength of the explosion blew debris and body parts onto nearby roofs.

Troubled city

In recent months, Tripoli has seen a series of clashes between the city’s majority Sunni Muslim community, who mainly support the anti-Syrian movement, and members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam, linked to the powerful political and militant group Hezbollah.Mr Suleiman, the president, was due to travel to Syria on Wednesday for talks with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad.

The BBC’s Bethany Bell, in Damascus, says his visit marks a gradual thaw in relations between the two countries, which have been strained since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

They planned to discuss demarcating their shared border and setting up diplomatic relations for the first time since independence in the 1940s.

Many Lebanese blame Syria for the Hariri killing, but Damascus has consistently denied any involvement.

Tuesday’s vote gave the formal go-ahead for a government which brings together the anti-Syrian bloc, backed by Western powers and Sunni-led Arab governments, and former opposition groups led by Hezbollah and backed by Syria and Iran.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the bombing “will not affect the launching of our government”.

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