Bomb kills journo in car

2005-06-02 10:49

Beirut - A bomb placed in a car killed a prominent Lebanese journalist known for his anti-Syrian missives in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut on Thursday, police and television stations said.

The explosion at midmorning in Ashrafieh set the car on fire and killed its occupant, police said.

Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation named the person killed as Samir Kassir, a journalist who writes a column in the An-Nahar, the leading newspaper which frequently criticises Syria and its allied Lebanese government.

The operator and journalists at An-Nahar confirmed Kassir's death, but there was no statement from the newspaper.

Michel Aoun, an opposition leader who was announcing his list of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections in central Lebanon, began the news conference with a moment of silence, describing Kassir as "one of the great journalists who never hesitated or was afraid to say the truth and defend Lebanon."

Lebanon is in the midst of parliamentary elections that began May 29 and run through June 19.

Gibran Tueni, An-Nahar's general manager and senior editor, won a seat for Beirut for the opposition last Sunday.

A series of explosions have targeted Christian areas of Beirut and the Christian heartland in the last few months, killing three people and injured 24.

- AP