http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050214/w021498.html

A powerful bomb assassinated a former prime minister Monday, carving a
nine-metre hole in a street and turning armoured cars into burning
wrecks - devastation that harked back to Lebanon's violent past and
raised fears of new bloodshed in the bitter dispute over Syria, the
country's chief power broker.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050214/w021498.html

A powerful bomb assassinated a former prime minister Monday, carving a
nine-metre hole in a street and turning armoured cars into burning
wrecks - devastation that harked back to Lebanon's violent past and
raised fears of new bloodshed in the bitter dispute over Syria, the
country's chief power broker.

The blast wounded 100 people and killed 10, including the main target:
Rafik Hariri, a billionaire businessman who helped rebuild Lebanon
after its civil war, but had recently fallen out with Syria.

The United States called the attack "a terrible reminder" that Lebanon
still must shake free of occupation by Syria, the neighbour that keeps
15,000 troops here and influences virtually all key political
decisions.

Syria denied any role and condemned the assassination. But opposition
leaders in Lebanon said they held both the Lebanese and Syrian
governments responsible and demanded Syrian troops withdraw.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was too
early in the investigation to know who was responsible, but said any
list of suspects "would have to include the Syrians and their
surrogates in Lebanon."

Hariri, 60, left office in October but had the wealth and the
prominence to maintain some independence from Syria, while never moving
toward total defiance.

His shift toward the opposition in recent months had given a boost to
calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops, and his death silenced an
influential and moderate voice that could prove hard to replace.

It was unclear if his killing would delay parliamentary elections that
had been expected in April and May.

Top government officials met in emergency session, then instructed the
army and internal security forces "to take all necessary measures to
control the security situation." The Supreme Council for Defence, which
groups the president, cabinet ministers and military officials, also
declared three days of national mourning.

Later in the day, the army command announced forces were put on maximum
alert and that soldiers and officers were being recalled from vacation
or leave. It also said troops were setting up checkpoints and
patrolling the streets.

The official National News Agency said Hariri's funeral would be
Wednesday in a mosque in Beirut.

U.S. President George W. Bush was "shocked and angered" by the
assassination, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

"This murder today is a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must
be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political
future, free from violence and intimidation and free from Syrian
occupation," McClellan said.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew condemned the
killing of Hariri and members of his entourage.

"Mr. Hariri devoted enormous energy to the reconstruction of Lebanon
following the end of the civil war," Pettigrew said in a statement.
"His passing is a great loss to Lebanon and its friends around the
world, including Canada. I urge the people of Lebanon to stand united
against those who seek to destabilize their country in its progress."

President Emile Lahoud, a longtime rival of Hariri, called his killing
"a dark point in our national history." He promised the assassins would
be brought to justice.

There were no credible claims of responsibility. A previously unknown
group, Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon, said in a video
broadcast on Al-Jazeera television that it carried out the bombing,
which it termed a suicide operation.

Security authorities raided the west Beirut home of Ahmed Abu Adas, a
Palestinian they said appeared in the video but fled during the day.
They confiscated computers, tapes and documents, the Interior Ministry
said.

The midday blast tore through Hariri's motorcade a block from the famed
Mediterranean-side corniche and was so powerful it left the bulletproof
vehicles a burning, smouldering wreck. The explosion gouged a crater in
the street nine metres wide and three metres deep and shattered windows
and twisted metal window frames at a nearby British bank and the
landmark Phoenicia Hotel.

Twenty cars were set ablaze. Former Economy Minister Bassel Fleihan, a
member of parliament in Hariri's bloc, was among those severely
wounded.

More than 300 kilograms of TNT explosives were used in the bombing,
security officials said. They did not say whether the explosives were
placed in a vehicle or on the street.

Hariri's supporters quickly took to the streets, many weeping. In his
hometown of Sidon, shops were shuttered as hundreds of people poured
into the streets, some of them shouting anti-Syrian slogans. One group
of people attacked a van with Syrian workers inside, shattering its
windshields.

In Paris, Lebanon's most prominent exile, former army commander Gen.
Michel Aoun, blamed Syria and what he called the "feeble regime imposed
by Syria" for the assassination.

But Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah called the killing "a
criminal, terrorist action against Lebanon and Syria."

Asked about Lebanese opposition accusations that Syria had a hand in
the attack, Dakhlallah said, "No serious man would address such
accusations to Syria. Such talk is nonsense."

Syrian President Bashar Assad said he "condemned this horrible criminal
action," according to Syria's official news agency, and urged the
Lebanese people to reject those who plant "schism among the people"
during this "critical situation."

President Jacques Chirac of France, a friend of Hariri, demanded an
international investigation, saying Hariri represented "the
indefatigable will of independence, freedom and democracy" for Lebanon.


Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, was an important symbol of Lebanon's rebirth
after its devastating civil war and he died just blocks from the
rebuilt and revitalized downtown and its pedestrian walkways and
sidewalk cafes whose reconstruction he helped spearhead.

Under Hariri, European investment in Lebanon rebounded, and tourists,
particularly from the Arab world and to a lesser extent Europe, have
returned to the country once called the Paris of the Middle East.u

======================================================================