WORLD_ SYRIA_ Beirut car bombing kills former minister Mohamad Chatah, who opposed Syria's Assad

Beirut car bombing kills former minister Mohamad Chatah, who opposed Syria's Assad

Updated 10 hours 35 minutes ago
ABC NEWS

Lebanon's former prime minister Saad al-Hariri has accused Hezbollah of involvement in the assassination of his political adviser Mohamad Chatah in a Beirut car bomb attack.

State news agency NNA said former finance minister Chatah, 62, was among several killed and dozens injured by the blasts in the capital on Friday morning local time.

Chatah, a leading figure opposing the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, was on his way to attend a meeting at Mr Hariri's mansion.

The sound of the blast was heard across the city at around 9:40am and a plume of black smoke was seen rising in the downtown business and hotel district.

A witness at the scene said his car was "totally destroyed. It is a wreck".

A restaurant and a coffee shop were destroyed in the blast, and several cars were on fire, the witness said, adding that there was glass everywhere and the smell of explosives in the air.

NNA news agency put the initial death toll at five and said more than 50 wounded in the blast. It said that more than 10 buildings in the area were badly damaged.

Footage broadcast by Future TV showed people on fire, others lying on the ground, some bloodied, as well as the mangled remains of a burning car. Some people were seen walking around dazed and shocked.

Ambulances as well as security reinforcements rushed to the stricken area, where large crowds had gathered.

The blast sent thick black smoke scudding across the capital's skyline and over the Serail, a massive complex that houses the offices of the Lebanese prime minister, the parliament building, banks, modern glass buildings, shops, cafes and restaurants.

Chatah, a Sunni Muslim, was an ex-minister of finance and Lebanon's envoy to Washington under Rafik al-Hariri, who was also killed in a car bombing.

He was also an outspoken critic of Hezbollah, and in his last Twitter message - an hour before the attack - he wrote:

#Hezbollah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security & foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 yrs. — Mohamad B Chatah (@mohamad_chatah) December 27, 2013
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombing.

However, Mr Hariri accused Hezbollah of involvement in the attack which killed his adviser.

"As far as we are concerned the suspects...are those who are fleeing international justice and refusing to represent themselves before the international tribunal," Mr Hariri said, referring to five Hezbollah suspects indicted for the 2005 killing of his father.

The trial of the five suspects is due to open in The Hague next month. The suspects are all fugitives and Hezbollah, which denies any role in the Hariri assassination, has refused to cooperate with the court which it says is politically motivated.

Lebanese president Michel Suleiman and prime minister Najib Mikati and officials from across Lebanon's sectarian political divide condemned Chatah's killing.

Mr Mikati said the blast targeted "a moderate academic and noble political figure who believed in dialogue, the language of reason and the right to different views".

Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Ammar described the explosion as a crime.

"We condemn this terrorist act," he told Hezbollah's Al Manar television.

"It is part of a terrorist wave which the region and Lebanon are witnessing".

Damascus denied involvement in the blast with Syria's information minister Omran al-Zohbi telling state news agency SANA: "these wrong and arbitrary accusations are made in a context of political hatred".

Lebanon violence as Syria tensions simmer

The attack was a grim reminder that the violence that tore Lebanon apart during the civil war is never far away, and comes as a war is raging across the border in Syria.

Much of Beirut went into lockdown following the explosion, with police blocking off roads across the city.

Beirut has been hit by several deadly attacks over the past months, including twin suicide bombings in November that targeted the Iranian embassy and bombings in the bastion of the Shiite movement Hezbollah in the south of the capital over the summer.

"We were opening our store when we heard the blast. It was really loud. We are used to blasts in Lebanon but not in this area. Now we are not safe anywhere," Mohammad, 23, a shop attendant in the stricken area said.

Ziad, a 37-year-old businessman whose office is located near the scene of the attack, said: "Chatah was a really respectful person. He was very nice. I was so shocked he has been killed."

Asked whether he felt safe in the country, which has suffered a string of explosions in recent months, he said: "If I had the chance to take my wife and children somewhere else, I would."

President Michel Sleiman warned in November that Hezbollah's involvement in Syria was a threat to Lebanon's "national unity and civil peace".

Reuters/AFP



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