The interior minister said yesterday that Lebanese demanding national unity in recent weeks will not be cowed by the overnight bombing in a Christian city that first reports said killed one person and wounded two dozen others. An opposition leader blamed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud for the explosion.
Lebanese police said yesterday that nobody had been killed in the bomb blast the previous evening, contrary to reports from the scene.
"Twenty-two people were wounded in the attack in Jounieh and five of them are still hospitalized," a police officer told reporters, citing what he said was a final casualty toll.
"No one was killed in the explosion, contrary to the early reports that emerged after the attack," said the officer, who declined to be named.
Civil defense and medical sources had spoken of two dead, one of them a Sri Lankan woman.
The 25kg bomb destroyed the headquarters of religious radio station Sawt al-Mahaba and severely damaged the adjacent Mar Yuhanna Church in the town's souk.
Lahoud has condemned Friday night's attack that ravaged a shopping area next to a church and a Christian religious radio station north of Beirut and linked it to political developments expected yesterday.
He was apparently referring to the return of Lebanon's most prominent anti-Syrian politician, Michel Aoun, from 14 years' exile in France and Parliament's discussion of a divisive election law.
Lawmakers convened to hear a message from Lahoud read by the Parliament's speaker urging them to craft an election law acceptable to all factions after deep political divisions over the demarcation of electoral districts. Parliamentary elections are supposed to start May 29 and be held over four consecutive Sundays.
Speaking to reporters outside the legislature, opposition leader Walid Jumblatt launched a scathing attack against the Lebanese president, accusing him of presiding over security agencies he blamed for the latest bombing.
"The head of the security apparatus cannot stay. There needs to be a complete reform," Jumblatt said.
The Druse political leader also said he had warned Christian opposition partners to force Lahoud, a Christian, to resign, but his call had been previously rejected.
"He [Lahoud] stayed and now he is playing with us by outbidding on sectarian issues and by bombs," Jumblatt alleged.
Interior Minister Hassan Sabei, who inspected the explosion scene, denounced the bombing in comments to reporters early yesterday.
"I say to those criminals that they will not stop the Lebanese people from forging ahead with the journey that they started on March 14," he said, referring to a huge anti-Syrian demonstration that called for end to 29 years of Syrian dominance.
Syrian military and intelligence forces, long dominant in Lebanon, completed their withdrawal from this country on April 26 under intense UN and US pressure, which intensified following the Feb. 14 assassination for former premier Rafik Hariri.
Opposition legislator Ghassan Moukheiber alleged joint Lebanese-Syrian security agencies were still operating here despite the withdrawal of Syrian soldiers and the removal of pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs.
Sabei, the interior minister, said he could not level accusations until the investigation finished but added: "there is no doubt that something has to be done for the [security] apparatus to be purged from the remains of what was happening before."
Police officials estimated the Jounieh 25kg bomb was placed in a suitcase under a car on the street.
The explosion broke a several week lull following a spate of bombings in March and last month in Christian districts and strongholds of opponents of Syria's influence what killed three people and injured 24.
Lebanon has been in political turmoil since Hariri's death. Lebanese Muslims and Christians have united in mass protests against Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese politicians, who many here have linked to Hariri's death.
A new Lebanese government was installed last month.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS