Summary A car bomb in Beirut killed a leading Lebanese critic of Syrian regime and five others on Friday.
BEIRUT (AFP) - A huge car bomb in Beirut killed a leading Lebanese critic of the Syrian regime and five others Friday, leaving a scene of carnage in the heart of the capital.
Tensions have soared in Lebanon since the outbreak of the war in neighbouring Syria, as the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement has sent troops to back the regime while their rivals in the Western-backed March 14 coalition have supported the Sunni-led rebels.
Dozens were wounded in the explosion, which left people with their clothes on fire and others lying on the ground, bloodied and in shock, as ambulances and security forces raced to the scene and plumes of smoke rose over the capital s skyline.
Mohammad Chatah, 62, was killed in the blast as he headed to a meeting of the March 14 coalition at the mansion of ex-premier Saad Hariri.
Chatah, an influential economist, former finance minister and ex-envoy to Washington, had served as adviser to ex-premier Fuad Siniora and remained a close aide to his successor, Hariri, who has lived abroad since 2011 for security reasons.
Hariri s father, billionaire ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, was killed in a massive seafront blast in 2005 just blocks away from Friday s explosion, in an assassination his supporters blamed on Syria.
State news agency NNA said more than 50 people were wounded and more than 10 buildings badly damaged by the blast, which officials said was caused by 50-60 kilos (110-132 pounds) of explosives.
The March 14 coalition implied Damascus and Hezbollah were behind the attack without naming them, saying in a statement that "the criminal is the same, he who is thirsty for the blood of Syrians... he and his Lebanese allies."
Hariri said the killers are "those who are hiding from international justice and who have spread the regional fire to the (Lebanese) nation... and who killed Rafiq Hariri."
March 14 meanwhile called for the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, tasked with investigating the Hariri assassination, to also investigate Chatah s killing.
Five Hezbollah members have been accused of involvement in Hariri s killing and are due to be tried in absentia by the court. The tribunal s first hearing is set for January 16.
A source close to Chatah called the bombing a "message ahead of the (special tribunal) trial, saying You want justice? Here it is ."
Chatah was the ninth high-profile anti-Syria figure killed in Lebanon since Hariri s assassination.
