Car bomb in Lebanon town near Syria kills at least three

BAALBEK, Lebanon - Agence France-Presse

People gather near a burning car at the site of an explosion in the Shi'ite town of Hermel January 16, 2014. REUTERS Photo

A likely suicide car bomb Thursday ripped through the main square of Hermel, a Hezbollah bastion in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, killing three people in the latest attack linked to Syria's war.
 
The bomb, which exploded in front of Hermel's main government building, was the first to hit the town since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, a security official told AFP.
 
It was the fifth major assault on a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon since the Shiite movement admitted it was fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria.
 
Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said three people were killed and 31 wounded in the town located only about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Syrian border.
 
"Two of the bodies were unidentified. We don't know whether one of them was a suicide attacker," Khalil told Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel.
 
The bombing came amid raging tensions in Lebanon mainly over the war in neighbouring Syria, where Hezbollah has been openly involved in the fighting for eight months.
 
It also came as the trial in absentia of four Hezbollah members accused of murdering Lebanese former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 began at a UN-backed court in the Netherlands.
 
"At around 8:55 am (0655 GMT) a car bomb exploded in front of the government administration building in Hermel," the army said.
 
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said that "given the human remains in the car and next to it, it seems like a suicide attack, but we will not rush to judgement".
 
The attack damaged buildings around Hermel's main square.
 
"The explosion was huge. People are really scared and upset. It took place just as people were on their way to work and to go about their daily business in the middle of town," said Ali Shamas, the headmaster of a Hermel college.
 
"There was a lot of smoke rising from the scene." An AFP photographer saw body parts strewn on the ground, as well as damaged vehicles and ambulances transporting casualties away.
 
The army cordoned off the affected buildings as investigations were launched.
 
The government building in the Hermel square houses the town's main administrative offices as well as police and security posts.
 
President Michel Sleiman described the attack as "the latest in a criminal series that target Lebanon's stability." "Immunising (Lebanon) from such terrorist groups will require solidarity between leaders and the people, and the rapid establishment of a government that is able to meet the challenges," he said.
 
For nine months, Lebanon's rival political camps have failed to form a government.
 
Hermel has been hit in recent months by mortar attacks launched from neighbouring Syria.
 
Hezbollah has since last May been openly involved in Syria's war, sending in thousands of fighters to support forces loyal to President Assad.
 
But Hezbollah MP Nawar al-Sahili said: "What happens in Syria stays in Syria... There must be no links made between our presence in Syria and these terrorist, criminal, cowardly explosions." Five major attacks have struck Hezbollah bastions in southern Beirut and in eastern Lebanon since it admitted it is fighting on Assad's side.
 
Prior to Thursday's attack, the two most recent were claimed by the Abdallah Azzam Brigades, which is loyal to Al-Qaeda.
 
Its leader Majid al-Majid died of poor health this month, but the brigades later warned of new attacks targeting Hezbollah and its backer Iran.
 
Until 2005, Lebanon had been dominated politically and militarily by Syria for 30 years.
 
It is still sharply divided into pro- and anti-Damascus camps, and the Syrian conflict has compounded Lebanon's sectarian and political divisions.
 
While Lebanon has suffered a spike in violence since the war in Syria broke out, the frequency of attacks has risen in recent weeks.
 
In November, 25 people were killed in a twin suicide attack targeting the Iranian embassy in southern Beirut, also a Hezbollah bastion.
 
Then in late December, eight people were killed in a car bomb attack targeting a former minister opposed to Assad.
 
And on January 2, a suicide blast tore through southern Beirut, killing five people.