Explosion kills prominent Lebanese editor, two others - report (AP) Updated: 2005-12-12 17:21
Anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni was killed Monday in an
explosion that targeted his convoy, according to two Lebanese TV stations that
are allied with him. Police did not immediately confirm.
LBC and Future TV said Tueni was killed in the bombing that killed two other
people in an industrial suburb of Beirut.
A switchboard operator at An-Nahar, the leading newspaper which Tueni heads,
said "he's all right" when contacted by The Associated Press. His wife at the
scene of the explosion was in tears. Asked by a reporter whether her husband was
hurt, she refused to answer and shook her head as she was led away by police
officers.
Police gave no immediate word on casualties, but an AP photographer saw three
mutilated bodies after the explosion. At least 10 cars were destroyed, some
tossed into a valley in the hilly Christian Mkalles area on Beirut's eastern
entrance.
LBC TV and Future TV station, which is owned by the Hariri family, said a car
bomb had been detonated, but police did not immediately say whether the bomb was
placed in a car or next to a vehicle.
Lebanon has been rocked by a series of explosions since the February 14
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The attacks have
maintly targeted journalists and politicians known to be opposed to Syrian
influence in Lebanon.
Many Lebanese blamed Syria for the killing of Hariri, who was seen as a quiet
opponent of Syria's dominance of the country. The assassination provoked mass
demonstrations against Syria which, combined with international pressure, forced
Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon at the end of April, ending a 29-year
presence in its western neighbor.
A U.N. investigation has implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security
officials in Hariri's assassination.
Monday's attack came a day after the chief U.N. investigator into Hariri's
assassination delivered his latest report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Two
U.N. diplomats said the document was expected to raise new questions about
Syria's cooperation with that probe.
Syria denies involvement in the February assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri and has said it is cooperating with the U.N. probe. But it
has waged a campaign to discredit the commission since an interim report in
October accused the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence agencies of complicitiy.
In an interview broadcast on Russian television on Sunday, Syrian President
Bashar Assad reiterated his country's innocence and said any attempt to impose
sanctions against Syria would destabilize the region.
The latest report of the U.N. investigation was expected to be made public on
Monday, after being delivered to the U.N. Security Council.
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