Beirut, Lebanon
(CNN) -- At least 23 people were killed and 146 injured Tuesday after twin
bombings in front of the Iranian embassy in southern Beirut, the Lebanese
health ministry said.
Iran's cultural
attache, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ansari, was killed in the attack, the Iranian
ambassador to Lebanon told Hezbollah TV.
The dead also
included two Iranian civilians who lived in a building close to the Iranian
embassy, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
"We have no
fear when it comes to giving more martyrs in the line of duties," the
ambassador told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
The motive behind
the attack was not immediately clear. But the blasts took place in an area
largely dominated by Hezbollah, which has been sending fighters to support
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
More than 100,000
people have died in Syria's ongoing civil war, which pits al-Assad's
Alawite-dominated regime against largely Sunni rebel fighters seeking an end to
his family dynasty. Alawites make up an offshoot of Shia Islam, but the
majority of Syrians are Sunni.
The Syrian crisis
has led to sectarian violence across the border in Lebanon. Sunni-backed rebels
have threatened to take the fight into Lebanon, but it was not clear who was
behind Tuesday's blasts.
Lebanon's acting
prime minister, Najib Mikati, said the blasts were "a cowardly terrorist
attack" and urged the Lebanese public "to exercise the utmost
restraint because we are going through a very difficult phase," NNA reported.
Mikati also called
the Iranian ambassador to check on his safety and express his condolences, NNA
said.
Source : CNN.com
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