Breaking: US Embassy In Beirut Bombed
3 dead, 20 wounded. 1 American among the wounded, named Matthew Clayton.
More as we get it.
A US Embassy car has been hit by an explosion which killed three people in Beirut, it is reported.
It is thought a passenger in the vehicle was injured when a car bomb was detonated.
A security official said the blast happened in the predominantly Christian Dora-Karantina neighbourhood.
Local journalist Leena Saidi told Sky News the affects of the blast will “reverberate around the area”.
She said the car was travelling on a road which would have been crowded with rush-hour traffic.
“In a way it’s lucky more people didn’t get killed or injured,” she said.
Sky Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said suspicion would fall on al Qaeda or Hezbollah.
He said the attack would have been well planned, with spotters tipping the killer off when the vehicle left the embassy and when it approached the blast area.
Television footage showed several damaged cars, including an SUV with tinted windows, similar to those used by American diplomats.
In the past three years, there has been a string of explosions in Lebanon targeting mainly anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
The last car bombing on December 12 in the Baabda suburb killed Lebanese army Major General Francois Hajj and two other people.
(Sky)
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