Explosion kills prominent Lebanese editor, two others - report
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-12 17:21

Anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni was killed Monday in an explosion that targeted his convoy, according to two Lebanese TV stations that are allied with him. Police did not immediately confirm.

LBC and Future TV said Tueni was killed in the bombing that killed two other people in an industrial suburb of Beirut.

A switchboard operator at An-Nahar, the leading newspaper which Tueni heads, said "he's all right" when contacted by The Associated Press. His wife at the scene of the explosion was in tears. Asked by a reporter whether her husband was hurt, she refused to answer and shook her head as she was led away by police officers.

Police gave no immediate word on casualties, but an AP photographer saw three mutilated bodies after the explosion. At least 10 cars were destroyed, some tossed into a valley in the hilly Christian Mkalles area on Beirut's eastern entrance.

LBC TV and Future TV station, which is owned by the Hariri family, said a car bomb had been detonated, but police did not immediately say whether the bomb was placed in a car or next to a vehicle.

Lebanon has been rocked by a series of explosions since the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The attacks have maintly targeted journalists and politicians known to be opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon.

Many Lebanese blamed Syria for the killing of Hariri, who was seen as a quiet opponent of Syria's dominance of the country. The assassination provoked mass demonstrations against Syria which, combined with international pressure, forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon at the end of April, ending a 29-year presence in its western neighbor.

A U.N. investigation has implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in Hariri's assassination.

Monday's attack came a day after the chief U.N. investigator into Hariri's assassination delivered his latest report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Two U.N. diplomats said the document was expected to raise new questions about Syria's cooperation with that probe.

Syria denies involvement in the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and has said it is cooperating with the U.N. probe. But it has waged a campaign to discredit the commission since an interim report in October accused the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence agencies of complicitiy.

In an interview broadcast on Russian television on Sunday, Syrian President Bashar Assad reiterated his country's innocence and said any attempt to impose sanctions against Syria would destabilize the region.

The latest report of the U.N. investigation was expected to be made public on Monday, after being delivered to the U.N. Security Council.