Terror Wave: Bombing in Lebanon
Charles Johnson
Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 8:33 pm PDT • Views: 242
Beirut Blast Wounds 12 on Crowded Street.
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A bomb exploded on a narrow street crowded with bars and restaurants late Friday, wounding 12 people just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the area, officials said.
The blast, from a bomb placed near a car parked in front of a restaurant, panicked the hundreds of people dining or smoking water pipes in the bustling sidewalk cafes on popular Monot Street. Lebanese families and Arab tourists, including black-veiled women visiting from the Gulf, scattered.
Three cars were damaged by the 50-pound bomb. Security and hospital officials said 12 people were wounded.
Lebanon has seen a string of bomb assassinations of politicians and other figures in recent months — almost all opponents of Syria. But Friday’s blast did not appear to have a particular target.
Instead, the attack was a “message” to the new government, announced this week and dominated by anti-Syrian ministers, said Tourism Minister Joseph Sarkis. He said the blast aimed to shake security and scare off the thousands of tourists, mainly from oil-rich Gulf countries, who spend summer vacations in Lebanon.
“It is a message against the government, against national reconciliation and national unity,” Sarkis told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel.
Frank says: