Ex-Lebanese PM Hariri killed in Beirut motorcade blast

The Lebanese army announced a state of alert in the wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut Monday.

A huge car bomb killed Hariri and at least 12 other people in Beirut's most devastating attack since the 1975-90 civil war.

Lebanon's army began deploying patrols and setting up checkpoints as tension rose in the hours following the car bombing that killed Hariri.

An army statement said "the army leadership announced a general alert for all units of the Lebanese army. Likewise, the fighting readiness was raised to the greatest degree."

Earlier Monday, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the explosion that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri proves that some groups - including countries such as Lebanon and Syria - are trying to destabilize the region and prevent democracy from reaching the Arab world.

Shalom, who was meeting with French President Jacques Chirac when he heard about the explosion, said it was an attempt to sow instability in the sensitive Middle East, Israel Radio reported.

The blast "proves that there are organizations and countries, such as Syria and Lebanon, striving to undermine the stability in the region and prevent democratization in the Arab world," the radio quoted Shalom as saying.

Lebanon's official news agency, quoting a statement from American University Hospital in Beirut, said that Hariri arrived dead at the hospital, his body mutilated in the massive explosion.

An unknown group claimed responsibility Monday for the assassination, saying Hariri was killed in a suicide attack and promising more attacks.

Al-Jazeera satellite television aired a video of a bearded man wearing a white turban and a black robe saying he belonged to Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon, a previously unheard of group.

"We have carried out a resounding martyrdom operation," said the man, who described Hariri as a tyrant. "It (the attack) will be an introduction to several martyrdom operations against infidels, renegades and tyrants."

Later in the day, Lebanese authorities identified the man as Palestinian Ahmed Abu Adas who lives in Beirut's western neighborhood of Tariq al-Jadidah, security officials said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Abu Adas left the house early Monday and never came back. They said he is suspected of having links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.

A computer and other technological equipment were confiscated from his house, the officials added. They did not elaborate.

Another possibility is that sources close to Syria, which has at least 14,000 soldiers stationed in Lebanon, were responsible for the blast.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said he "condemned this horrible criminal action," according to SANA, Syria's official news agency. Assad urged the Lebanese people to reject those who "[plant] schism among the people" during this "critical situation."

Hariri, a self-made billionaire, led Lebanon for most of the period since the 1975-1990 civil war ended. Since leaving office in October, he was considered to be in opposition - in large part because of a dispute concerning Syria's controversial role in Lebanon.

Hariri had rejected a Syrian-backed insistence that rival politician, President Emile Lahoud, remain in office for a longer period.

Former economy minister Bassel Fleihan, a member of parliament in Hariri's bloc, was severely wounded and admitted to the intensive care unit of the American University Hospital, said another pro-Hariri legislator, Atef Majdalani. Hariri's television station reported that Fleihan was in critical condition and the hospital was preparing to transfer him abroad.

An emergency Cabinet meeting was called and Lebanon's supreme defense council - security Cabinet ministers, top leaders and military officials - were in session at the presidential palace, a presidential spokesman said.

Lahoud, a long time rival of Hariri, issued a statement saying the killing was "a dark point in our national history." He promised the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan paid tribute to Hariri and said the assassination was "a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political future, free from violence, and intimidation and free from Syrian occupation."

In Paris, Lebanon's most prominent exile, former army commander Gen. Michel Aoun, was more direct, blaming Syria and what he called the "feeble regime imposed by Syria" for the assassination. "I think all these together are behind this crime," Aoun told Al-Arabiya satellite television, which is based in Dubai.

The front of the famous St. George Hotel was devastated in the blast, with several balconies blown off. Along the famed Mediterranean corniche, at least 20 cars were in flames or destroyed, and the fronts of several other bulidings were heavily damaged, including a British bank and the landmark Phoenicia Hotel.

Explosions in Beirut - while common during the 1975-90 civil war - have become rare since the conflict ended.

However, in October, amid rising tensions between the government and opposition groups, a car bomb seriously injured an opposition politician and killed his driver in Beirut.

Witnesses at the scene confirmed that Hariri's motorcade had just passed the area shortly before the bomb went off.

TV footage showed dramatic scenes of one burning man struggling to get out of a car window, then falling on the ground. He was helped by a bystander who used his jacket to put out the flames, but it was not clear if he survived.

Several young women were seen with blood running down their faces. Some had to be helped from the scene.

Heavily armed security forces cordoned off the area with yellow tape as rescue workers and investigators combed the scene apparently looking for casualties or clues to what caused the huge explosion.

The explosion near the city's waterfront shortly before noon (1000GMT) shook buildings in the city center and was heard in outlying hills overlooking the Lebanese capital.

Rubble and twisted debris covered a road lined with burning cars, the smoke from which enveloping the area as firefighters carrying houses raced to douse flames.

UN condemns 'callous political assassination'"The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms those who instigated, planned and executed this callous political assassination. Such acts are a reversion to a chapter in Lebanon's history that he had hoped was long past," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

"It is imperative that the already fragile situation in the region should not be further destabilized," he added.

Eckhard said Annan hoped "this bloody assassination attempt will not be a return to the days of civil war in Lebanon," and described the bombing as a "red flag, a warning signal."

Annan urged the Lebanese people to exercise restraint and use peaceful means to achieve their national aspirations to full sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

"He urges the Lebanese to pull back, think hard and not sink back into the old days of civil war," Eckhard added.

	Rescue workers rushing to the scene of a blast in Beirut on Monday, in which former PM Rafik Hariri was killed. (AP)