04/02/2014 10:17
Lebanon 'suicide bomber' strikes southern Beirut
A suicide bomber has blown himself up in a southern district of the Lebanese capital Beirut wounding several people, the BBC reported, citing officials.
The interior minister said the bomber detonated explosives in a minibus during rush hour in Choueifat district.
The area is home to a largely Christian and Druze population.
There has been a spate of bomb attacks in Beirut in recent weeks largely blamed on the rise of sectarian tension over the conflict in Syria.
"A man wearing an explosive belt boarded a public minibus in Choueifat and blew himself up," Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told Lebanon's Mayadeen television channel.
He said at least one person had been killed in the blast, but it was unclear if that was in addition to the suicide bomber.
Ayad Monzer of the Lebanese Red Cross said at least two people, a man and a women, were wounded in the blast.
Lebanese TV has aired footage from the scene of the blast showing the wrecked chassis of a roofless vehicle surrounded by onlookers.
The army has reportedly set up a security cordon around the blast site and started to investigate the circumstances of the attack.
The target of the attack was not immediately clear. Hezbollah has a significant presence in the area and in adjacent Shia areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut.