Beirut Car Bomb Kills 1, Hurts 21; Syrians Targeted

BEIRUT — A car bomb exploded in a Shia Muslim area of southern Beirut on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring 21 in an attack that an anonymous telephone caller said was aimed at Syrian troops.

The bomb went off shortly after a funeral march for 18 members of the pro-Iranian Shia Muslim group Hezbollah (Party of God), who were killed Tuesday by Syrian troops.

The car-bomb attack was the first since 7,000 Syrian troops deployed in West Beirut on Sunday, trying to enforce a truce in the Lebanese capital after six days of fighting between militiamen of the Shia Muslim group Amal and their leftist rivals.

The anonymous telephone caller told a news agency in Beirut that the bomb was aimed at the Syrian troops and had been planted by the “Lebanese Liberation Organization.”

The car bomb damaged a score of houses in a poor neighborhood around the Borj el Brajne refugee camp. But police said there were no Syrians near the explosion.

Syrian troops have not moved into Shia strongholds in southern Beirut, where more than 10,000 men, women and militiamen marched Wednesday, chanting “Death to Syria, Death to Israel, Death to America,” as they carried the bodies of the 18 Hezbollah militants.