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10 killed in Beirut blast
13/06/2007 19:08 - (SA)
Beirut - Anti-Syrian MP Walid Ido was killed along with his eldest son and eight other people in a powerful seafront bomb blast in the Lebanese capital on Wednesday, a senior security official said.
Ido, the 65-year-old chair of parliament's defence committee, his eldest son Khaled, two bodyguards and six civilians were killed when a bomb-rigged car blew up, while 11 other people were wounded, he told AFP.
Immediately after news of the attack, dozens of angry youths closed the road near the deputy's home in the Verdun area of Beirut by burning tyres.
Pieces of flesh and pools of blood stained the ground as relief workers rushed to transport the wounded to hospital and treat passers-by for shock, an AFP correspondent on the scene of the blast said.
The powerful explosion in the Manara district of mainly Muslim west Beirut threw the body of one of the victims into the nearby football pitch of a local club.
It was the first political assassination in Lebanon since November 21 when prominent anti-Syrian minister Pierre Gemayel was shot dead.
Troops cordoned off the seafront area which has a number of popular cafes and beach clubs, including the Lebanese army's club, and an amusement park with a large Ferris wheel facing the Mediterranean.
Windows shattered in many residences and hotels within a radius of several hundred metres (yards) from the seafront site of the explosion which left several cars in flames.
People were seen rushing to the beaches and cafes, calling out the names of missing relatives and friends.
- AFP
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