Beirut Blast Kills At Least 25, Injures 100

A car bomb exploded in a densely populated residential district of Christian east Beirut during Monday morning rush hour, and police said at least 25 people were killed and 100 wounded.

Rescuers were sifting the rubble for at least seven other victims believed buried in debris as firefighters using hoses doused burning apartment buildings set on fire by the explosion.

Civil Defense rescue teams, fire engines and ambulances crowded the scene of the blast in the Ein Rummaneh area, and Christian radio stations broadcast appeals for urgent blood donations.

Police said the explosion resulted from a car rigged with an estimated 330 pounds of TNT, and that army explosive experts had established that the car used in the bombing was a Mercedes-Benz that had been parked near an empty movie house.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

A huge black cloud of smoke hung over the area after the explosion at 8:28 a.m. Police said seven apartment buildings were on fire and that many tenants were trapped.

Firefighters used mobile ladders to climb to the upper floors of the burning buildings, where women and children screamed fro balconies for help, police said.

Nawal Ghattas, a housewife in the district, said, “I was ironing family clothes when it happened. I felt as if my eardrums were split as window glass shards fell all around me.”