Car Bombing in Beirut Suburb Injures Nine

A car bomb rocked a predominantly Christian neighborhood in northern Beirut early today, destroying part of a building and wounding at least nine people, police said.

The explosive left a 7-foot-deep crater in the roadway and shattered windows for several blocks in the New Jdeideh neighborhood.

The target wasn’t immediately clear, but the attack comes amid political turmoil sparked by the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops to east Lebanon and Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been participating in demonstrations for and against Syria since Hariri was killed. Anti-Syrian demonstrations have included large numbers of Maronite Christians.

At least nine people were treated for injuries after ambulances and fire trucks converged on the scene.

Witnesses said the car attempted to stop in front of a bingo hall, but security guards asked the driver to move along. The driver then parked the car a short way down the road. Minutes later, it exploded.

The bomb blew off the facade of the first and second stories of one building. It also damaged parked cars and shops in the vicinity.

Shaken residents, many wearing their pajamas or nightgowns, poured out into the street and gathered outside the damaged building behind a police cordon.

“We were sleeping when it happened,” said a white-haired man wearing blue pajamas who declined to be identified.

“We don’t know what and why. No one important lives here.”

He said two of his children were injured by flying glass.

Bomb explosions had been rare since Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, but Hariri was killed in a massive explosion that ripped through his motorcade in downtown Beirut.

It is still not known whether the explosives were packed in a car or buried in the road.