Car Bomb Kills 10 in Lebanese Christian Port; Suicide Driver Attacks Checkpoint

JUNIYAH, Lebanon —  A car bomb exploded in the main square of this Christian port while the area was packed with lunch-hour crowds Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 110.

The blue BMW sedan blew up only 50 yards from offices of President Amin Gemayel’s Falangist Party, set 25 cars ablaze and damaged buildings 500 yards away. It was the latest in a series of bombings in Christian areas since mid-January.

In southern Lebanon, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Israeli-backed militiamen, killing himself and wounding six people, Lebanon’s state radio reported. It was the first suicide bombing reported this year in what Israel calls its security zone.

‘Innocent Are Victims’

Premier Rashid Karami, a Sunni Muslim opposed to the Maronite Catholic president, called the Juniyah bombing treacherous and declared, “It’s always the innocent people who are the victims.”

Youssef Bitar, the top police explosives expert, said that about 165 pounds of explosives were packed inside the sedan. It blew up at 1:05 p.m., the height of the lunch break.

Police said that 10 charred bodies were pulled from the rubble of two high-rise office buildings--housing banks, beauty parlors, clinics and shops--that took the brunt of the blast.

Water pipes were ripped open, flooding the glass-strewn square where rescuers dug through the rubble looking for survivors.

Firing Into the Air

Jumpy Christian militiamen, fearing more bombs, fired automatic rifle bursts into the air to clear paths for ambulances.

Christian radio stations broadcast lists of the casualties. According to police, about 1,190 people have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded this year in Lebanon’s political and sectarian warfare.

Juniyah, 13 miles north of Beirut, is the main Christian outlet to the Mediterranean and generally has been spared during 11 years of factional fighting. Most bombings of Christian targets have been aimed at offices of Gemayel’s party in Christian East Beirut.

As is usually the case in bombings in Christian areas, no one claimed responsibility for the Juniyah blast. The Falangists have blamed loyalists of Elie Hobeika, Gemayel’s main Christian rival, for earlier bomb attacks.

Supported by Syria

Syria, the dominant foreign power in Lebanon, supports Hobeika, whose militiamen were defeated by Gemayel’s forces in a daylong battle Jan. 15 that left hundreds dead.

At least 50 people were killed and more than 300 wounded by the earlier bombs. The most recent, in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of East Beirut, killed 10 and wounded 80.

According to the state radio report, the suicide bomber in southern Lebanon detonated an estimated 220 pounds of explosives as South Lebanon Army militiamen, who are allied with Israel, searched cars at Kawkaba, about nine miles north of the Israeli border.

Three militiamen and three civilians were wounded, the radio said.

It was the first suicide bombing reported in the Israeli security zone this year. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Meanwhile, radio stations reported that 16 people were killed in the Shouf Mountain village of Bsaba, southeast of Beirut, in a clan feud between Sunni Muslims and Druze villagers from rival areas.