Car Bomb Kills 1, Hurts 37 at Muslim’s Home in Sidon

A car bomb exploded Monday outside the home of a key Sunni Muslim leader in this southern Lebanese city, killing at least one person and wounding 37, Israeli military sources and hospital workers said.

Israel television quoted security sources as saying 10 people were killed and 10 wounded in the bombing, but Lebanese police could not confirm the Israeli figures.

The Israeli report said the blast signaled the start of a battle for control of this port, the largest of the Lebanese cities under Israeli occupation.

Charge Against Israelis Premier Rashid Karami and Sunni Muslim leader Saeb Salaam charged that Israeli agents were behind the explosion, and Karami said the bombing was part of an attempt by Israel to sow local sectarian strife after its army withdraws from the city.

The white Mercedes Benz packed with an estimated 220 pounds of explosives blew up outside the home of Mustafa Saad, a leader of the Sunni community and secretary general of the left wing of the Nasserite Organization. Saad, 34, suffered serious injuries to his head and eyes and was evacuated under tight security by U.N. helicopter to Beirut, police said. Beirut radio said his wife, son and daughter were also injured.

Saad, who inherited his position in the Nasserite Organization from his father, was known for his anti-Israeli views and his refusal to cooperate with Israeli occupation troops. He rarely left his home after Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

His Nasserite militia is believed to be Sidon’s most powerful and is expected to play an important role in the struggle for control of Sidon once the Israelis withdraw.

Saad’s father, Maarouf Saad, was shot to death by a soldier in February, 1975, as he led a demonstration in Sidon. The slaying of the former member of the Lebanese Parliament was widely regarded as one of the events that led to the outbreak of civil war in April, 1975.

The blast in Sidon came as the Israeli army continued the first stage of its planned three-stage withdrawal from southern Lebanon, which began Sunday. The first stage, which will involve evacuating the Sidon area, is to be completed by Feb. 18.

Israel invaded Lebanon in June, 1982, to drive out Palestinian guerrillas.