The United States condemed the bombing in a Christian surburb of east Beirut last night and urged Lebanon to push ahead with elections due in May but threatened with dealy if a crisis over the formation of a new government continues.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Stat David Satterfield met with opposition leader Walid Jumblatt today and said: "The people of Lebanon are confident in their ability to proceed in manner that tells those responsible they will not be frightened."
Lebanese security forces picked through rubble and twisted metal left by Saturday's blast, the third in eight days in the Christian heartland, where resentment against Syria runs high.
The blast wounded eight people, security sources said, most of them migrant workers from South Asia. They said 25 kg (55 pounds) of high explosives had been planted between a Buick car and a car repair shop and exploded in the Sad al-Boushrieh industrial zone.
Anti-Syrian opposition figures blamed the Lebanese security agencies backed by Damascus for the blast, which revived memories of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. They said the attacks would not deter their campaign against Syria.
Lebanon's opposition, which blames Syria and its allies for the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on Feb. 14, yesterday urged the country's security chiefs to resign to make way for an international probe into his death. A UN fact-finding report said Lebanon's own inquiry was seriously flawed and called for an international investigation. Lebanon's pro-Syrian authorities have criticised the report but accepted an international probe.
On Tuesday, a blast killed three in a Christian town north of Beirut, days after another injured 11 in Christian east Beirut. Syria has pledged to withdraw and has already completed the first phase of a two-phase plan, pulling back to eastern Lebanon and withdrawing over a third of its 14,000 troops altogether. Syrian troops left six positions in the eastern Bekaa Valley overnight, witnesses said.