Eight people wounded in overnight Beirut car bomb – Al-Jazeera
Al-Jazeera TV, Doha
19 Mar 05
Some eight people were wounded in the explosion of a booby-trapped car
in Al-Judaydah area, east of Beirut, after midnight. The circumstances
of the explosion, which inflicted material losses, have not been known
yet.
[Correspondent] This is the car inside of which the explosive charge
was planted. Only the license plate remained, revealing that its owner
is called Hagub, a Lebanese of Armenian origin, who lives in this
building. Hagub has nothing to do with politics, as those who know him
have confirmed, but they noted that one of the neighbours works at the
US embassy.
[Unidentified resident in neighbourhood] We have someone living here,
namely, Anis al-Hayik, who works at the US embassy in Awkar. In spite
of this, the motives and the target have not been announced, but
regardless of its goals, the bombing made the opposition’s supporters
head immediately to the site of the incident. Some of those came from
Al-Shuhada Square where those staging the sit-in are continuing their
action which started on the day Al-Hariri was assassinated. Their
position is to note that what has happened targets them even
indirectly.
[Ibrahim Kan’an, the opposition Free National Movement] It is clear
that the series which started a month ago continues. We hope that the
bombing would not be a message to the residents of the area or a
message to the people of Lebanon who proved their unity on 14 March,
because this message would be useless.
[Unidentified man] We want to know from all security forces the truth
about who is planting these explosive charges.
[Correspondent] It is clear that this bombing increased internal
confusion and has represented a new occasion for the opposition to
resume its attack against the authority at a time when the country
appears to be in an intertwined predicament, including a security
crisis that started with Al-Hariri’s assassination and another
political crisis resulting from the assassination and the ensuing
resignation of Karami’s government followed by the difficulties of
setting up an alternative government especially after the plea of
those behind forming it to make it a national union government. The
biggest fear for the citizens is that bombings would once again
disturb the life of the Lebanese people.
Because it is a moment when the political and security issues merged,
the repercussions of the bombing might exceed the destruction of
several apartments in this building and lead to the destruction of the
entire political house, which is something that might not be easy to
deal with. This is Abbas Nasir reporting for Al-Jazeera.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress