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Rescue workers putting out flames after a car bomb exploded in Beirut on Wednesday. (Reuters)
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Last update - 23:58 19/09/2007
Beirut car bombing kills anti-Syrian MP and seven others
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

Members of Lebanon's government coalition on Wednesday held Syria responsible for a car bomb which exploded in a Christian suburb of the capital Beirut earlier in the day, killing an anti-Syrian parliamentarian and seven other people.

At least 67 more people were wounded in the blast.

Christian MP Antoine Ghanem, 64, was killed in the attack. Security sources said earlier that the explosion had targeted a politician.

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Members of the coalition blamed Syria for Ghanem's death, which came only two days after he returned to Lebanon from the safety of abroad. Damascus denied the accusations of involvement, as it has done for each of the past seven assassinations.

"I have never seen a more cowardly regime than that of Bashar Assad's," said lawmaker Saad Hariri, blaming the Syrian president for Ghanem's death. Hariri heads the anti-Syrian majority in Parliament, a role he stepped into after his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was killed by car bomb in 2005.

Cabinet member Ahmed Fatfat also blamed Syria for the attack, saying Damascus wanted to derail recent efforts by majority and opposition leaders to begin presidential elections on September 25.

"It is the only regime that does not want presidential elections in Lebanon to be held," Fatfat told The Associated Press.

Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud also implied Ghanem's death was meant to undermine the upcoming elections, saying it is no coincidence that whenever there are positive signs that someone is killed.

Syria was quick to condemn the attack, which it said aimed at sabotaging efforts by the Lebanese people to reach agreement.

"This criminal act aims at undermining efforts paid by Syria and others to achieve Lebanese national accord," Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted an anonymous Syrian official as saying.

Lebanon's prime minister asked the United Nations on Wednesday to help the government investigate the attack.

In a letter to Ban, the Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, requested "technical assistance in the effort to investigate the murder."

He noted that "this horrific assassination is the latest in a series of attacks aiming at Lebanese politicians" and had occurred only a few days before parliament was due to convene to elect a new president.

The explosion occurred in the Sin el-Fil district, but the cause was not immediately known. Television footage showed severe damage in nearby buildings and several cars on fire. The blast sent a cloud of gray smoke over the area.

The area houses the home of former Lebanese President Amin Gemayeh, whose son, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, was shot dead in November. Antoine Ghanem is a member of parliament belonging to the Christian Phalange party, the same party to which the assassinated Gemayel belonged.

The explosion took place before Lebanon's parliament is supposed to convene to elect a new president next week. Lebanon has been going through its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Beirut has been hit by a series of bomb attacks in the past two and a half years, many of them aimed at anti-Syrian politicians. Ghanem is the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure assassinated since 2005, including three lawmakers from the majority, reducing the ruling party's margin in Parliament.

In June this year, anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido and nine other people died in a car bomb attack.

In February 2005, former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive car bomb attack.

Hariri's family says Syria was behind the killing of the former prime minister and later attacks, but Damascus denies this.

Tension has been high in Beirut, where the U.S.-backed Siniora government is locked in a feud with the opposition led by Shi'ite Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria.
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  1.   MOSSAD FINGER THERE 17:19  |  indrajaya 19/09/07
  2.   No doubt, this is the work of Syria and Iran in their 17:24  |  Albert 19/09/07
  3.   Here we go again! 17:26  |  Maurice 19/09/07
  4.   Antoine Ghanem is dead 17:38  |  Chris Linthwaite 19/09/07
  5.   LIBERATE, ANNEX LEBANON,LET SYRIANS KNOW THEIR LIMITS FOR NOW)))) 17:41  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/09/07
  6.   How many more democrats will we let Syria kill? 17:45  |  Rafa 19/09/07
  7.   Hear the protests? 17:49  |  MichaelF 19/09/07
  8.   bombing in Beirut 18:01  |  Yehuda 19/09/07
  9.   kind of arab democracy carter gideon levy like and support 18:05  |  ralph 19/09/07
  10.   Disgusting 18:05  |  Murray 19/09/07
  11.   lebanon is finished 18:06  |  ralph 19/09/07
  12.   Targeted assassinations by Syria 18:06  |  Polybios 19/09/07
  13.   Syria told Israel there would be a `response` 18:15  |  Jake 19/09/07
  14.   END ISRAEL..... 18:16  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/09/07
  15.   Left in Israel: "Talk to Assad" ....! 18:17  |  ZLando 19/09/07
  16.   when will the lebanese people live peacefully ? 18:18  |  Someone 19/09/07
  17.   Where are the protests from Azmi Bishara 18:19  |  Jake 19/09/07
  18.   Lebanon and Israel Unite Fight Against Syria? 18:29  |  JewishHeart 19/09/07
  19.   democracy Lebanese style 18:30  |  peter 19/09/07
  20.   mossad :) 18:30  |  Mario 19/09/07
  21.   Alah Yerhamo, he was a good man 18:33  |  Tamir Palestine 19/09/07
  22.   VOM #13 18:38  |  Polybios 19/09/07
  23.   Alah Yerhamo means he will go heaven and die in peace 18:42  |  Tamir Palestine 19/09/07
  24.   indrayaja indonesia 18:45  |  robert 19/09/07
  25.   #1 - FAKE INDRAJAYA ALERT 18:49  |  indrajaya 19/09/07
  26.   Syria and the Tentacles 18:56  |  Brod 19/09/07
  27.   arabs deserve PAIN 18:57  |  joe smith 19/09/07
  28.   WHAT DOES ONE EXPECT 19:22  |  M 19/09/07
  29.   ISRAEL IS DETERMINED TO IMPLICATE SYRIA... 19:24  |  ME Observer 19/09/07
  30.   Who benefits? 19:32  |  Goldberg 19/09/07
  31.   indrajaya: GLUB GLUB GLUB BURBLE 19:39  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 19/09/07
  32.   #1, `a region suscetible of terror atacks like this` 20:07  |  akiva 19/09/07
  33.   Idiots are DETERMINED to implicate Israel... 20:09  |  Polybios 19/09/07
  34.   indrajaya is rushing to blame mosad 20:15  |  TOMY 19/09/07
  35.   To ME observer 20:16  |  EZ 19/09/07
  36.   The US President is ProCanadian 20:16  |  Bernie 19/09/07
  37.   ME observer 20:18  |  George Dickens 19/09/07
  38.   Do not forget, when cristians were the rulers 20:21  |  TOMY 19/09/07
  39.   Christians are again being murdered in the streets 20:23  |  Clarence Darrow 19/09/07
  40.   Involvement in neighbors politics is common 20:34  |  Natallie Durson 19/09/07
  41.   ME Observer: From your mouth to God`s ear! 20:50  |  martyrmaker 19/09/07
  42.   #40 - Golly, you are funny! 20:50  |  JES 19/09/07
  43.   The same Syria, in the service of Iran, that has caused this 20:50  |  Linda 19/09/07
  44.   Durson 20:58  |  akiva 19/09/07
  45.   Wow, Natalie. All that, and not even mention Lebanon? 21:03  |  Polybios 19/09/07
  46.   Re:Natalie Durson.You should move to Saudi Arabia. America is not 21:07  |  e.m 19/09/07
  47.   NatalieDurson..You have got it. Not wasting their time 21:09  |  e.m 19/09/07
  48.   Olmert is considering entering talks with these murderers? 21:09  |  Chick 19/09/07
  49.   SYRIA IS THE ONLY VICTIM 21:22  |  indrajaya 19/09/07
  50.   Great idea, e.m. of S.F. 21:43  |  Polybios 19/09/07
  51.   A Distraction from Gaza? 21:53  |  Dovy 19/09/07
  52.   How is it Syria? 22:19  |  Dovy 19/09/07
  53.   Re:Polybios.We will make it 22:20  |  e.m 19/09/07
  54.   Syria again killing politicians 22:28  |  Adrian de Klerk 19/09/07
  55.   to Bernie#36 22:30  |  Ilya 19/09/07
  56.   Will the real Indrajaya please stand up 22:38  |  Avrum 19/09/07
  57.   SSNP/ Syria/ Hizbullah fingerprints 22:47  |  Jake 19/09/07
  58.   Jews, Christians and Muslims 23:03  |  maroun 19/09/07
  59.   39 Clarence Darrow 23:08  |  ChanahS 19/09/07
  60.   #1..Indra 23:23  |  Nemesis 19/09/07
  61.   #25..Indra 23:26  |  Nemesis 19/09/07
  62.   The laughable "Mossad bogey" baloney 23:35  |  Jake 19/09/07
  63.   Re:Polybios.We will make it 00:02  |  e.m 20/09/07
  64.   The UN Is Obsessed with Israel 00:17  |  Tony Anthony 20/09/07
  65.   no matter who did it, blame Israel 00:37  |  Christian Lebanese 20/09/07
  66.   When will Syria get punished? 00:50  |  Moshe 20/09/07
  67.   To Indrajaya #1 00:54  |  Simon 20/09/07
  68.   Re:Polybios.We will make it 01:02  |  e.m 20/09/07
  69.   Ignore that idiot indrajaya #1 01:07  |  Rafa 20/09/07
  70.   stupid men 01:10  |  mouna 20/09/07
  71.   no doubt his freinds was killing him 01:16  |  mouna 20/09/07
  72.   indre rertarain 01:18  |  abe 20/09/07
  73.   love thee, love thy neighbour? ask the arabs 01:26  |  Richard S 20/09/07
  74.   indrajaya 02:04  |  Alex 20/09/07
  75.   #59 ChanaS 02:38  |  Clarence Darrow 20/09/07
  76.   36No Bernie, Syria prefers Lebanon to be anti-Israel 03:00  |  Rob 20/09/07
  77.   The last sentence and folly 03:04  |  Mark Lincoln 20/09/07
  78.   shame 03:06  |  fadi 20/09/07
  79.   I am about the only consistent supporter of 03:09  |  Mark Lincoln 20/09/07
  80.   Re 1 Not so indrajaya 03:21  |  Alan the real one