Senior intelligence officer killed in Lebanon

	Senior intelligence officer killed in Lebanon Anti-Syrian security official among dead in Beirut car bomb attack Lebanese general who foiled pro-Syrian bombing campaign and led investigation into Hariri assassination reportedly the target Syria's bloody conflict appeared to spill over the border into Lebanon on Friday when one of the country's most senior intelligence officers was murdered in a car bomb attack that killed seven others and left scores injured in downtown Beirut. The bomb was detonated during rush hour in the middle-class Christian neighbourhood of Achrafieh as many parents were picking up children from school. The target of the attack was Major General Wissam al-Hassan, head of the police intelligence unit and the prime mover behind the arrest in August of Michel Samaha, a pro-Syrian former information minister and associate of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Samaha is alleged to have been plotting a bombing campaign in Lebanon. The killing of such a senior figure so closely linked with the anti-Assad camp in Lebanon will fuel fears that violence from Assad's war in Syria is spreading to neighbouring states, including Lebanon and Turkey. Speculation was already rife that Syria, or its allies, were behind the attack in Beirut on Fridaydespite the quick condemnation by Damascus of the bombing. Michael Fish, 25, a British musician visiting Beirut, said he was in his hotel a street away when the explosion happened. "At first I thought it was an earthquake. It shook the whole hotel for a second." In <b>...</b>	From: Amrinder Singh Views: 1 0 ratings
	Time: 01:15	More in News & Politics