Two people have been killed and five wounded after a bomb ripped through a shopping centre in a strongly Christian area north of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The explosion, the second in a commercial Christian area in five days, brought Lebanon closer to chaos in the wake of last month's killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
The roof of the centre in the upper class coastal area of Kaslik, 20 km north of Beirut, collapsed and walls were blown out in the powerful explosion early on Wednesday. Emergency services workers searched through the rubble for other victims.
Windows of nearby shops and buildings were shattered and broken glass littered streets lined with boutiques, jewellery stores and nightclubs.
Investigators were quickly on the scene. Police sources said the blast was caused by a large explosive charge placed inside the multi-storey centre, which was closed at the time.
The sources said the two people killed were Asian workers at the building. The toll would have been much worse if the blast had taken place in daytime at the usually crowded street.
Christian opposition figures who rushed to scene said the bombings were aimed at undermining the country's stability and urged supporters to foil any attempts to sow sectarian rifts.
"It is clear that those who carried out this attack are targeting the security and stability of the country," opposition member of parliament Faris Bouez told reporters. "It is a political message to the (anti-Syrian) independence uprising."
The current crisis is the worst since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
In the previous incident, a car bomb exploded in a Christian suburb of Beirut early on Saturday, wounding 11 people.
"The aim is chaos ... The country is the target," another Christian opposition parliamentarian, Mansour Ghanem al-Boun, said in Kaslik.