11 killed in Tripoli bomb blast
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A bomb targeted a civilian bus in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, killing at 11 people, including seven soldiers, security sources said.
At least 28 people were wounded, two of them seriously, by the bomb, which was planted either inside the bus or beside it and exploded in a busy district of Lebanon's second largest city.
"A bomb exploded on Masarif Street in central Tripoli Wednesday morning," an official said.
The bomb, placed in front of a garage door, exploded near a passenger bus that was also carrying Lebanese soldiers.
Masarif Street is in a commercial district and the bomb went off near a bus pick-up point.
Tripoli has been the scene of sectarian fighting which killed 23 people last month in battles between militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities in the neighbourhoods of Bab al-Tibbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.
Bab al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen mainly support the Syrian-backed opposition led by Hezbollah.
The explosion comes a day after the Lebanese cabinet led by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora gained a parliamentary vote of confidence after five days of speeches and debates over the government's policy statement.
Lebanese president Michel Sleiman is set to hold a summit with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday.
- AFP/Reuters
