Powerful Blast Hits Beirut Shopping Center.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A powerful explosion late Monday rocked a shopping center and hotel in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut, injuring at least three people and causing extensive damage, security officials said.

Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area, punching and hitting journalists to keep them back. ...

The explosion shattered the windows of several apartment buildings and blew shutters off dozens of luxury boutiques in the neighborhood. Black smoke billowed high in the night sky, but there was no fire. Aluminum siding and roofing in the shopping center buckled. The state-run National New Agency estimated the explosion was caused by 45 pounds of TNT.

Security forces were seen rounding up several suspects, including five men with their hands tied behind their backs who were taken to a military vehicle.

Zalka Mayor Michel Murr told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. the bomb was placed in an open area between the Centre Moussa shopping center and the Promenade hotel, which was packed with tourists. He said none was hurt. Zalka, on the Mediterranean coast, is a mixed residential and commercial area on a main street that leads to Lebanon’s Christian heartland. The area has several cafes — including a Starbucks coffee shop — and restaurants and other nightspots that were full of patrons.