Lebanese Car Bomb Kills Sunni Muslim Leader, 20 Others

A powerful car bomb exploded in Syrian-policed West Beirut today, killing the spiritual head of Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim community and 20 other people, police said.

Police said 46 other people were wounded in the explosion, which occurred as the Arab League tried to maintain a 6-day-old truce to halt the latest fighting between Muslim and Christian forces.

Among the dead was Grand Mufti Hassan Khaled, the Sunni Muslim religious leader and a prominent voice of moderation who had been involved in efforts to end the bloodshed.

The explosion happened at 1 p.m. as Khaled was being driven through the crowded Aishe Bakkar district from his office to his home for lunch, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman said Khaled’s driver and three other people riding in his car were killed. Four Lebanese riot policemen riding in a jeep in front of Khaled’s car also were among the fatalities.

Near Home of Premier

The bomb-laden car blew up only 100 yards from the home of acting Premier Salim Hoss, a Sunni politician who heads the Muslim Cabinet in Lebanon’s dual government. It was not clear where Hoss was at the time, but one of his employees guarding the building in which he lives was killed by flying glass and shrapnel.

Khaled, 68, is survived by a wife and four sons.

Pools of blood filled the street, and Khaled’s black Cadillac was smashed. Police reinforcements sealed off the area as ambulances arrived to evacuate victims.

The explosion tore the facade off a four-story apartment building in front of which the explosives-packed car was parked. Several other buildings, including a mosque, were wrecked within a 50-yard radius.

Fire engines rushed to Aishe Bakkar and began dousing dozens of smoldering cars with water hoses.

The spokesman said he could not tell whether the bomb-laden car was detonated by remote control or a timing device. All Beirut radio stations, however, said the blast was a “premeditated assassination.”

Rare Show of Unity

Muslim and Christian radio stations interrupted programming to broadcast news of the explosion.

When Khaled’s death was confirmed, they joined in mourning, displaying a rare show of unity. Muslim radios broadcast verses from the Koran, Islam’s holy book, and the Christian stations played somber music.

It was the sixth car bombing in Lebanon this year. By police count, 28 people were killed and 218 wounded in the previous blasts.

Eleven political leaders of the Sunni sect, including three former premiers, held an emergency meeting at Khaled’s headquarters an hour after the explosion. Khaled’s four sons also attended.

Khaled, the widely respected spiritual guide of Lebanon’s 900,000 Sunnis, had publicly advocated Christian-Muslim coexistence in the tiny Mediterranean nation where the two communities have been locked in 14 years of civil warfare.