Anti-Syrian official killed by Beirut car bomb

	Anti-Syrian official killed by Beirut car bomb Anti-Syrian official killed by Beirut car bomb A top Lebanese security official is among eight people killed by a car bomb in the country's capital Beirut. Wissam al Hassan died in the rush-hour bomb in the city's east - which also wounded some 80 people - heightening fears that the Syrian civil war is spilling over into Lebanon. Al Hassan's investigations had implicated Syria and Hizbollah in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri seven years ago. He had also uncovered a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician, according to a Lebanese official. He was a close aide to Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who was killed in a 2005 bomb attack in downtown Beirut. Friday's bombing was the city's first major car bomb attack since 2008. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the blast, in the mainly Christian east Beirut, took place only 200 yards from the headquarters of the Christian party, the Phalange. A wounded woman is seen at the site of an explosion in Ashafriyeh, central Beirut A wounded woman near the site of the explosion The party is hostile to the regime of President Bashar al Assad in neighbouring Syria, which is mired in a lengthy civil war. But Syrian information minister Omran al Zoabie told reporters: "We condemn this terrorist explosion and all these explosions wherever they happen. Nothing justifies them." Michael Fish, 25, a British musician visiting Beirut, said he was in his hotel a street away when <b>...</b>	From: DynamoMor Views: 0 0 ratings
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