struck outside the Iranian Embassy in
the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing
23 people, including the Iranian cultural
attaché, and wounding dozens more in
one of the worst bombings to target the
predominantly Shiite area in southern
Beirut.
The mid-morning blasts hit the upscale
neighborhood of Janah, a stronghold of
the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah
group, leaving pools of blood and
bodies on the rubble-strewn street amid
burning cars.
Although there was no immediate claim
of responsibility, the bombings
appeared to be another strike in the
proxy battles that have played out in
the region for decades and now
intensified with the civil war next door
in Syria.
A Lebanese security official said the
first suicide attacker was on a
motorcycle that carried two kilograms
(4.4 pounds) of explosives. He blew
himself up at the large black main gate
of the Iranian mission, damaging the
three-story facility, the official said.
Less than two minutes later, a second
suicide attacker driving a car rigged
with 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of
explosives struck about 10 meters
(yards) away, the official said. He spoke
to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity in line with regulations.
Attacks have targeted Hezbollah
strongholds in recent months in what
many see as retaliation by Sunni
extremists for the Shiite group's role in
Syria's bloody conflict, now in its third
year.
Shiite Iran has long played a central role
in Syria as the main Mideast backer of
President Bashar Assad's government,
and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters have
aided Assad's forces in battling the
largely Sunni rebels seeking to topple
him. Sunni Gulf Arab powers Saudi
Arabia and Qatar are chief backers of
the insurgency in Syria.
Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar
Roknabadi identified the dead diplomat
as Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari. Speaking to
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV from inside the
embassy compound, he said Ansari
took his post in Lebanon a month ago
and was overseeing all regional cultural
activities. Al-Manar reported that the
street targeted by the suicide bombers
includes a building where some of the
Iranian diplomats and their families
live.
An unidentified Iranian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman blamed Israel for the
attacks while Hezbollah and Syrian
officials indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia.
"Each of the terrorist attacks that strike
in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reek of
petrodollars," a Syrian government
statement said, in a clear reference to
oil-rich Gulf Arab countries that have
sided with the Syrian rebels.
At the scene, puddles of blood stained
the ground, amid broken branches
scattered from the blasts' force. A
woman in a black robe and headscarf,
unable to stand, clutched a man,
pleading with security forces for help.
"Nader," she wailed, crying out a man's
name. "Nader is missing." Another man
ran from the area, carrying a South
Asian migrant worker limp in his arms.
"People aren't sacred anymore. We
aren't safe," said a mechanic whose
store windows were shattered by the
blasts. He declined to be identified
because he did not want to be seen as
involved in sectarian tensions that have
split the Lebanese over Syria's conflict.
"People fight outside (Lebanon), but
send their messages through Lebanon.
With bombs. It's their SMS service," he
added.
Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan
Khalil said the twin explosions killed 23
people and wounded 146.
Debris was scattered on the street and
cars were on fire as people ran away
from the chaotic scene. AP video
showed firefighters extinguishing
flames from vehicles, blood-spattered
streets and bodies covered with sheets
on the ground. A charred motorcycle
stood outside the embassy gate.
An armed guard at the embassy told AP
that the first blast was believed to have
been carried out by a suicide attacker
who rode a motorcycle and blew himself
up outside the gate. The guard,
speaking on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to talk
to media, said the other explosion,
which caused much more damage, was
likely a car bomb.
Lebanese security officials confirmed
the two bombings were both suicide
attacks. They spoke on condition of
anonymity in line with regulations.
"We tell those who carried out the
attack, you will not be able to break us,"
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mikdad told Al-
Mayadeen TV. "We got the message
and we know who sent it and we know
how to retaliate."
Hezbollah's Al-Rasoul al-Azam hospital
called on people to donate blood, saying
they need all blood types.
Iran has been one of Assad's strongest
supporters, supplying him with money
and weapons since the Syrian crisis
began in March 2011.
Previous large-scale attacks targeting
Hezbollah strongholds include an Aug.
15 car bombing in the southern Beirut
suburbs that killed 27 people and
wounded more than 300. A less
powerful car bomb targeted the same
area on July 9, wounding more than 50
people.
___
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue
and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed
to this report.
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