Anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni was killed yesterday by a car bomb that exploded as his motorcade passed, a senior police officer said.
Tueni's uncle, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, and the leading Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt blamed Syria for the bombing.
"God have mercy on Gibran and An-Nahar will remain the beacon for freedom," Jumblatt told LBC television, referring to the An-Nahar newspaper of which Tueni was the general manager.
The political leader of the Druse community, Jumblatt said the bombing was intended to silence a voice who had sought those responsible for the February assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
"This is a new terrorism message," Jumblatt said of the killing, referring to Hariri's assassination and the mysterious series of subsequent bombings that have targeted mainly Lebanese opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon.
LBC and Future television channels, which are allied with Tueni, said he was one of three people killed in the bombing in an industrial suburb of Beirut. Tueni, 48, had only returned to Lebanon on Sunday from Paris, where he has been staying most of the past few months for fear of assassination.
Earlier, a switchboard operator at An-Nahar said "he's all right," but Tueni's wife at the scene of the explosion was in tears. Asked by a reporter whether her husband was hurt, she refused to answer and shook her head as she was led away by police officers.
Police gave no immediate word on casualties, but an AP photographer saw three mutilated bodies after the explosion. At least 10 cars were destroyed, some tossed into a valley in the hilly Christian Mkalles area on Beirut's eastern entrance.
LBC and Future television said a car bomb had been detonated, but police did not immediately say whether the bomb was placed in a car or next to a vehicle.
After Hariri's assassination, Tueni played a prominent role in the leadership of the mass demonstrations that, combined with international pressure, succeeded in forcing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year presence in the country. He was elected to parliament for the first time in the elections of May and June.
Tueni's grandfather, Gibran Tueni, founded An-Nahar. His father Ghassan Tueni is seen as the dean of the Lebanese press, having turned the newspaper into an institution respected by friend and foe.
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