Lebanese cabinet in emergency talks after Beirut bomb
Source: bbc.co.uk
The Lebanese cabinet has been holding emergency talks a day after a powerful car bomb killed the head of internal intelligence and seven others.
PM Najib Mikati offered his resignation but has been asked to stay on by the president. Opposition leaders accused Syria of being behind the explosion.
The Syrian government has condemned the attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Supporters of opposition leader Saad Hariri have been holding tyre-burning protests across the country.
A day of mourning is being held for those killed in the blast - in which 86 people were also wounded.
[...]
Friday’s blast occurred in the mainly Christian district of Ashrafiya, in a busy street close to the headquarters of Mr Hariri’s 14 March coalition.
The dead included internal intelligence head Wissam al-Hassan, who was close to Mr Hariri, a leading critic of the government in neighbouring Syria.
Mr Hassan led an investigation that implicated Damascus in the 2005 bombing that killed Mr Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
He also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon.
His supporters have set up roadblocks around Lebanon’s capital, while denouncing the Syrian president and his Lebanese allies.
Read the full article at: bbc.co.uk
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