LEBANON: Rescue workers in the southern Beirut district hit by an explosion find nine bodies, a witness at the scene says. The powerful blast engulfed several cars in flames and also trapped people in a nearby building

Record ID: 359515

  • Title: LEBANON: Rescue workers in the southern Beirut district hit by an explosion find nine bodies, a witness at the scene says. The powerful blast engulfed several cars in flames and also trapped people in a nearby building
  • Date: 15th August 2013
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (AUGUST 15, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SMOKE RISING BETWEEN BUILDINGS AT THE EXPLOSION WITH FIRE / PAN ON PEOPLE NEAR BLAST SITE RUNNING AMBULANCE VEHICLE DRIVING TO BLAST SITE SMOKE RISING PEOPLE DAMAGED CARS NEAR BLAST SITE WITH SMOKE RISING IN BACKGROUND TILT UP SMOKE RISING
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAD7XR86BRFO4W4Y4YHVM4W3ONO
  • Story Text: Rescue workers have found nine bodies at the site of an explosion that struck a complex used by Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah in southern Beirut on Thursday (August 15), a Reuters witness at the scene said.
    He said at least five nearby buildings were damaged and many cars in the area were destroyed. The blast sent a column of black smoke over the densely populated area in the south of the Lebanese capital.
    The explosion came a month after a huge car bomb wounded 53 people in the same district, a stronghold of Hezbollah which has been fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria's civil war.
    Several minutes after Thursday's blast, live television footage showed fires still burning in the street where the explosion took place. The facades of neighbouring residential buildings were also badly damaged.
    Al Mayadeen television said some people were still trapped inside buildings at the scene, close to the Sayyed al-Shuhadaa (Martyrs) complex, where Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah often addresses his followers.
    Sectarian tensions have been high in Lebanon following the intervention of Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah in support of Assad against a two-year revolt led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority. Hezbollah also fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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