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Saturday, January 26, 2008
Beirut car bomb kills top Lebanese terrorism investigator (11:26 am)
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A car bomb killed one of Lebanon's top
terrorism investigators who was probing assassinations of prominent
anti-Syrian figures and a series of other attacks in recent years.
Capt. Wissam Eid, 31, worked for the police intelligence agency
which is closely tied to the Western-backed government and had
survived two previous assassination attempts. Friday's attack also
killed his bodyguard and three passers-by and wounded 37 people,
police said.
A huge plume of black smoke rose from the site of the attack in
the Lebanese capital. Television footage showed orange flames
shooting up into the sky, as several cars burned and firefighters
struggled to put out the flames.
Graphic televised images showed a body slumped behind the wheel
of a delivery truck ripped apart by the blast and two other bodies
on the ground. The bombing set a dozen vehicles ablaze and ripped a
crater in the asphalt 12 feet (three meters) wide and 6 feet (two
meters) deep. It shattered windows hundreds of feet (meters) away
and knocked motorcyclists off roads.
Lebanon is deeply and bitterly divided along pro- and anti-Syrian
lines. A prolonged crisis has left the country without a president
since Nov. 23 because the two camps cannot agree on a candidate or
the makeup of a future government.
Since 2005, the country has seen a series of bombings including
the assassinations of eight prominent anti-Syrian figures.
As a senior officer in the intelligence department, Eid had
handled "very important" files including "all those having to do
with the terrorist bombings," national Police Chief Brig. Gen.
Ashraf Rifi said.
His work in the technology field was believed to include sifting
through millions of telecommunication tips and cellular phone
contacts as part of those investigations.
Eid was "one of the most important officers in the intelligence
department," Interior Minister Hassan Sabei said. "They are trying
to hit the backbone of the Lebanese state, which is security."
Sabei pledged the attack would not deter Lebanon from working
"toward the goal which is independence and freedom."
As news of the killing spread to Eid's hometown of Deir Ammar,
north of Beirut, dozens of angry villagers burned car tires and
blocked a highway leading from the Mediterranean coast to the Syrian
border for a few hours.
Eid had survived two other assassination attempts, including a
bomb targeting his house, Sabei told LBC television.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked whether she
saw Syrian involvement in Eid's killing, and said "it's far too
early to know who might have been behind it but we've seen this sort
of thing before.
"We condemn any bombing and terrorist activity but we also call
again for all involved, and that means Lebanon's neighbors in
particular, to support a process in Lebanon by which the people of
Lebanon can elect a president and can do so freely and can do so
without intimidation," said Rice, who was in Colombia on Friday.
The police intelligence department Eid worked for is close to the
anti-Syrian majority that controls Lebanon's government and
parliament and it and has been often criticized by the pro-Syrian
opposition.
Syria has been fingered in many of Lebanon's recent bombings,
including that of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. His
assassination triggered political upheaval and international
pressure that forced Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon that
same year, ending almost three decades of domination of its smaller
neighbor.
Islamic militants also were suspected in some of the explosions.
Legislator Saad Hariri, the former prime minister's son and
leader of the anti-Syrian parliament majority, implicitly blamed
Syria for the "despicable crime." Seeking Arab nations' help, he
said the killing should prompt a "new appeal ... (to make) the
Syrian regime take its hand off Lebanon."
"They shall pay the price," he said of the culprits. "We fear
no one but God and we will defend Lebanon's independence."
Damascus has denied any role in the bombings. It also condemned
Eid's killing, as did its ally Hezbollah, the Islamic militant group
which leads the Lebanese opposition.
Arab League Chief Amr Moussa, who earlier this month failed in
Beirut talks to reconcile the feuding factions, warned against
letting Lebanon "slip into an abyss."
Lebanese Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat said Eid was on his way
from a meeting at the headquarters of the U.N. commission
investigating the Hariri's assassination.
But Sabei said Eid was on his way to work and the discrepancy
could not be immediately reconciled.
The blast ripped through the Christian eastern neighborhood of
Hazmieh. It was the deadliest bombing since last September, when a
pro-government lawmaker Antoine Ghanem was killed along with six
other people in another Christian suburb.
The amount of explosives used in Friday's blast - 154 pounds (70
kilos) - was the most since Hariri and 22 others were killed in a
February 2005 by more than a ton of explosives.
The explosion came just two days before Arab foreign ministers
were to meet in Cairo to discuss the Lebanon crisis. (AP) |
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