17 Are Killed, 50 Injured in Beirut Blast : Lebanon’s Capital Rocked by 6th Major Bombing in 12 Days

BEIRUT â€”  A powerful car bomb ravaged a narrow street crowded with motorists and shoppers Friday in the mainly Muslim Arab university quarter, killing 17 people and wounding at least 50 others in the latest violent shock to a Syrian-backed security plan for West Beirut.

The blast, the sixth major one to rock the capital in 12 days, exploded between two buildings housing the offices of the Lebanese Communist Party and the Shia Amal militia. It set fire to two buildings and tore apart balconies, windows and wire cables.

In a telephone call to the Christian Voice of Lebanon radio station, a man claiming to represent the Revolutionary Liberation Cells Organization asserted responsibility for the blast.

“The bomb was aimed at a security patrol of the arrogant Syrian Army and its agents,� the Arabic-speaking caller said.

Stability Damaged

The cycle of violence brought on by booby-trapped cars and smaller blasts around the capital has marred a climate of relative stability here following Syrian deployment of special troops alongside Lebanese soldiers and police in the western half of the capital nearly five weeks ago.

On Monday, Lebanese soldiers and police, boosted by Syrian forces and plainclothesmen, took on the most autonomous part of the city. They extended their presence to the main roads cutting through Beirut’s southern suburbs, the stronghold for Iranian-backed extremist groups. Syrian soldiers and their local allies also now control the entry points into Palestinian refugee camps adjacent to the suburbs.

About 80 people have died in the wave of bombings in the last 12 days, and about 400 have been injured. Each attack has been strongly condemned by Muslim and Christian camps.

The first four attacks also were followed by recriminations from both camps. The Christians blamed the Syrians, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah (Party of God) extremists or the Palestine Liberation Organization. In turn, the Muslim groups accused the Lebanese army intelligence or the Israelis of planting the bombs.

Accusations Halted

But after the last two bombs, political leaders stopped accusing one another and appear to be working slowly toward a political solution. Friday’s car bomb coincided with a surprise effort by Sunni Muslim Premier Rashid Karami to summon his ministers after months of political deadlock and suspended Cabinet meetings. His plea follows a call one week ago by President Amin Gemayel, a Maronite Christian, for Parliament and government to meet to discuss constitutional reforms.

Within two hours of the bombing Friday, however, shelling erupted across the Green Line that divides Christian-dominated East Beirut from Muslim-dominated West Beirut. Local radio stations reported that 14 people were wounded in the shelling, which struck residential areas on both sides.

Friday’s explosion in West Beirut devastated rows of shops on both sides of Afif Tibi street in the densely populated Tarik Jedideh district. The explosive charge, estimated at 110 pounds of TNT, was planted in a brown Fiat parked underneath a seven-story building.

Red Cross workers worked to free occupants of burned cars from a mass of fuming and tangled metal, as civil defense teams, Syrian soldiers and Lebanese police removed debris, shards of glass and uprooted power poles. The crowd wailed when the body of a small, blackened baby, with outstretched arms and clenched fists was placed on a stretcher. There were several women and three children among the dead.