BEIRUT (AP)
— Twin suicide bombings struck outside the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese
capital on Tuesday, killing 23 people, including the Iranian cultural attaché,
and wounding dozens more in one of the worst bombings to target the
predominantly Shiite area in southern Beirut.\
The
mid-morning blasts hit the upscale neighborhood of Janah, a stronghold of the
Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah group, leaving pools of blood and bodies on the
rubble-strewn street amid burning cars.
Although
there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the bombings appeared to be
another strike in the proxy battles that have played out in the region for
decades and now intensified with the civil war next door in Syria.
A Lebanese
security official said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle that
carried two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives. He blew himself up at the
large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story
facility, the official said.
Less than
two minutes later, a second suicide attacker driving a car rigged with 50
kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives struck about 10 meters (yards) away, the
official said. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in
line with regulations.
Attacks
have targeted Hezbollah strongholds in recent months in what many see as
retaliation by Sunni extremists for the Shiite group's role in Syria's bloody
conflict, now in its third year.
Shiite Iran
has long played a central role in Syria as the main Mideast backer of President
Bashar Assad's government, and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters have aided Assad's
forces in battling the largely Sunni rebels seeking to topple him. Sunni Gulf
Arab powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar are chief backers of the insurgency in
Syria.
Iranian
Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi identified the dead diplomat as Sheikh Ibrahim
Ansari. Speaking to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV from inside the embassy compound,
he said Ansari took his post in Lebanon a month ago and was overseeing all
regional cultural activities. Al-Manar reported that the street targeted by the
suicide bombers includes a building where some of the Iranian diplomats and
their families live.
An
unidentified Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman blamed Israel for the attacks
while Hezbollah and Syrian officials indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia.
"Each
of the terrorist attacks that strike in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reek of
petrodollars," a Syrian government statement said, in a clear reference to
oil-rich Gulf Arab countries that have sided with the Syrian rebels.
At the
scene, puddles of blood stained the ground, amid broken branches scattered from
the blasts' force. A woman in a black robe and headscarf, unable to stand,
clutched a man, pleading with security forces for help.
"Nader,"
she wailed, crying out a man's name. "Nader is missing." Another man
ran from the area, carrying a South Asian migrant worker limp in his arms.
"People
aren't sacred anymore. We aren't safe," said a mechanic whose store
windows were shattered by the blasts. He declined to be identified because he
did not want to be seen as involved in sectarian tensions that have split the
Lebanese over Syria's conflict.
"People
fight outside (Lebanon), but send their messages through Lebanon. With bombs.
It's their SMS service," he added.
Lebanese
Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said the twin explosions killed 23 people and
wounded 146.
Debris was
scattered on the street and cars were on fire as people ran away from the
chaotic scene. AP video showed firefighters extinguishing flames from vehicles,
blood-spattered streets and bodies covered with sheets on the ground. A charred
motorcycle stood outside the embassy gate.
An armed
guard at the embassy told AP that the first blast was believed to have been
carried out by a suicide attacker who rode a motorcycle and blew himself up
outside the gate. The guard, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to talk to media, said the other explosion, which caused much
more damage, was likely a car bomb.
Lebanese
security officials confirmed the two bombings were both suicide attacks. They
spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
"We
tell those who carried out the attack, you will not be able to break us,"
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mikdad told Al-Mayadeen TV. "We got the message and
we know who sent it and we know how to retaliate."
Hezbollah's
Al-Rasoul al-Azam hospital called on people to donate blood, saying they need
all blood types.
Iran has
been one of Assad's strongest supporters, supplying him with money and weapons
since the Syrian crisis began in March 2011.
Previous
large-scale attacks targeting Hezbollah strongholds include an Aug. 15 car
bombing in the southern Beirut suburbs that killed 27 people and wounded more
than 300. A less powerful car bomb targeted the same area on July 9, wounding
more than 50 people.
___
Associated
Press writers Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this
report.
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