Bomb Blast Kills 2, Wounds 130 in Beirut

A bomb exploded at the headquarters of Lebanon’s largest Christian political party during a leadership meeting Monday. Officials said two people were killed and 130 were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at the office of the Falangist Party.

But the bombing was a reminder that political rivalries still fester as Lebanon struggles to reconcile its fragmented sects, three years after the end of the 1975-90 civil war between Christians and Muslims.

The right-wing Falangist, the main party of Lebanon’s 1 million Maronite Christians, has been at odds with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, since he took office 14 months ago. The party is also feuding with rival Maronite movements.

Monday’s blast was the second major bombing in Lebanon this year in sporadic sectarian and political violence since the war ended in October, 1990.

On June 22, two Muslim fanatics were killed when they tried to blow up an ecumenical conference of leading Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christian leaders in northern Lebanon.

Falangist spokesman George Shahin said he saw the headquarters go up in flames Monday as he was driving to attend the meeting of the Politburo, the party’s executive arm.

Politburo member Antoine Baaklini, 45, was killed and 60 officials were injured in the building’s main conference hall. Ten of the 19 Politburo members were holding their weekly meeting under a senior party leader, Salah Matar, Shahin said. Officials said Matar, 55, was among the wounded.

A man unaffiliated with the party was killed and 70 people were wounded in nearby houses, police said.

Falangist leader George Saadeh and his deputy, Munir Hajj, had been expected to attend the meeting. But both had telephoned earlier Monday to say they were sick and could not make it, officials said.

The Falangist Party was a major loser in the peace treaty that ended Lebanon’s 14-year civil war. Under that pact, the Maronites, who had dominated the country since independence from France in 1943, were forced to share power equally with the Muslim majority. They have been antagonistic toward the Syrian-backed government since then.

In recent weeks, the Falangists has been seeking to foster better links with Syria, which has 40,000 troops in Lebanon, and to forge a political rapprochement with the Muslims.

During the civil war, both sides terrorized each other with bombings, in which more than 4,000 people were killed and nearly 6,800 were wounded.