LOC13:37
10:37 GMT
BEIRUT, Jan 25 (KUNA) -- A car packed with explosives blew up at the morning rush-hour in eastern Beirut on Friday killing an officer who "possessed sensitive files on terrorism" along with at least nine people and turning the location into a hairy scene dotted with shreds of human flesh.
Major General Ashraf Riffi, Director-General of the Internal Security Force (ISF), also known as the police, confirmed in a statement to journalists after the blast that the car bomb explosion targetted Captain Wissam Eid "and a number of innocent people ... it constitutes a message to the internal force." Eid, who served in the intelligence (information) department of the ISF, was killed along with a bodyguard in the rumbling blast that hurled shreds of human flesh many meters away in the district of Hazmiyah during the morning high traffic, set scores of cars afire and inflicted heavy damage within a wide radius.
Maj. Gen. Riffi said several people were wounded in the fiery blast and were whisked to nearby hospitals.
"The martyr Eid had possessed very sensitive files related to terrorist explosions that occurred in Lebanon," the chief of the police said.
Eid was reportedly involved in last summer's fighting that pitted the Lebanese government forces, both the ISF and the army, against a shodowy group known as Fatah Al-Islam in the refugee camp of Nahr Al-Bared in northern Lebanon. The Lebanese forces crushed the militants' hideout and took over the camp following fierce fighting. The group's chief, Shaker Al-Absi, whose whereabouts have been unknown, has recently threatened revenge in remarks posted on the internet.
Interior Minister Hassan Al-Sabaa told the press that Eid had been targeted with at least three botched bids on his life, and described the deadly attack as "intended to strike at the basic nerves of the Lebanese security system." A security source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the authorities detained several suspected persons for interrogation after the explosion that occurred at 10:15 a.m. (local time).
The explosion whose sound echoed throughout the congested capital set many cars alight, sending black clouds of smoke billowing into the skies, while civil defense teams struggled for hours to put out blazes of the burning cars.
The blast followed an explosion that occured in eastern Beirut on the 15th of this month, trageting a vehicle of the US embassy. An American was injured in the blast and several locals were killed.
Last December a senior officer of the Lebanese Army was killed in a similar attack. Beirut has witnessed a wave of deadly bombs since assassination of the former premier, Rafic Al-Hariri, on Februaray 14, 2005.
Several leading figures had been killed since the assassination of Al-Hariri -- including journalist Samir Kassir, former Communist Party leader George Hawi, caretaker Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, MP Walid Eido and Brigadier General Francois Al-Hajj of the Lebanese Army. (end) oh.rk KUNA 251337 Jan 08NNNN