Bomb kills anti-Syrian politician in Beirut

BEIRUT - An anti-Syrian politician was killed today when a bomb ripped through his car in Beirut, two days after parliamentary elections ended with victory to an alliance that opposed Damascus's role in Lebanon.

Witnesses and security sources said George Hawi, former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party, died instantly in the blast in the Wata Musaitbi neighbourhood of Beirut.

Witness Rami Abu Dargham told Reuters: "The car kept going and we then saw the driver screaming and he jumped out of the window. We rushed to the car and saw Hawi in the passenger seat with his guts out."

The bomb was apparently placed under the passenger seat of Hawi's Mercedes car and was detonated by remote-control, security sources said. The driver apparently escaped serious injuries.

It was the second killing of an anti-Syrian figure in Beirut this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 when a similar explosion destroyed his car.

Hawi's killing came two days after the end of Lebanon's parliamentary elections which were won by an anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri, son of a former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri who was killed in a truck bomb last February.

"We are stunned," Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters. "With every achievement by the Lebanese state, we see that there are those who want to target security and send messages of this sort."

- REUTERS