<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/4266587.stm>
The BBC
Tuesday, 15 February, 2005, 14:24 GMT
Beirut blast 'was suicide attack' Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri was "almost certainly" killed by a suicide bomb, initial findings
show.
The bomb that blew up close to Mr Hariri's motorcade in Beirut on Monday
seems to have been in a moving vehicle, Lebanon's interior minister said.
The army was put on high alert after the blast, which killed at least 15
people and injured about 120 others.
Shops, schools and public institutions across the country are closed for
three days of official mourning.
"The security services are almost certain that it was a suicide car bomb,"
Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh told a news conference.
RAFIK HARIRI
* Prime minister 1992-98 and 2000-04
* Self-made billionaire
* Trained as a teacher, but founded successful construction firm
in
Saudi Arabia
* Born in 1944 to a poor Sunni Muslim family in the southern
Lebanese port of Sidon
In pictures: Lebanon mourns
Hours after the attack, a little-known group calling itself Victory and
Jihad in Greater Syria claimed responsibility and said the blast had been
caused by a suicide bomb.
However, correspondents say the statement could have been a ploy by
whoever carried out the bombing to draw suspicion away from themselves, or
some fringe elements trying to capitalise on the attack.
The UN Security Council is to meet later to discuss the killing, which has
raised fears of renewed violence.
Lebanese opposition figures have blamed Mr Hariri's death on the
government and Syria, and have renewed calls for Syrian troops to withdraw
from the country.
Syria has denied involvement in what it called a "horrible, criminal action".
Protests
As Lebanon reeled from the highest-profile killing since the end of the
15-year civil war in 1990, the army was placed on full alert and
checkpoints set up around Beirut.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Beirut says many people are staying at home,
watching television or reading newspapers, trying to come to terms with
what happened.
Traffic is almost non-existent and the only sound is that coming from a
nearby mosque, where prayers are already being said for Mr Hariri.
Grief turned to anger among Mr Hariri's supporters, and mourners in the
capital tried to torch the local offices of the Syrian Baath Party.
In Mr Hariri's hometown of Sidon, protesters burned tyres and blocked roads.
Our correspondent says there have been fears that the killing could spark
new civil strife but Lebanese from all religious backgrounds have been
saying they will not be dragged into another war.
Mr Hariri's funeral will be held on Wednesday at a mosque in central Beirut.
His family has called for a large popular turnout but it has also said it
does not want members of the government to attend.
Syria accused
Lebanon's former colonial power France, whose leader President Jacques
Chirac had close ties with Mr Hariri, has called for an international
inquiry into the blast, which went off in central Beirut as Mr Hariri's
convoy travelled through the area.
Opposition leaders in Lebanon said Syria, which keeps about 14,000 troops
in the country, bore a measure of responsibility for the killing.
"We hold the Lebanese government and the Syrian government, the power
behind it, responsible for the crime," said Lebanese MP Bassem Sabeh.
Mr Hariri had called on Syria to withdraw its forces and end its
involvement in Lebanese affairs.
The White House condemned the bombing and said Lebanon should be allowed
to pursue its political future free from violence and free from "Syrian
occupation".
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