The U.S. State Department says a bomb blast that struck a U.S. Embassy vehicle in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, has killed four people. Lebanese security officials put the death toll lower, at four. Speaking in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed outrage at the blast and called it a terrorist attack.  She said the U.S. will not be deterred in its efforts to help the Lebanese people and the democratic process in that country.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says no American diplomats were in the U.S. Embassy vehicle at the time of the blast, but that the Lebanese driver was slightly injured. At least 16 people were wounded in the blast. McCormack says an American was among those injured but was not in the U.S. embassy car. There has been no claim of responsibility. Television footage showed damaged cars on streets in a mainly Christian suburb of north Beirut (Qarantina), and smoke rising over the city.

It came shortly before a farewell reception for departing U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, which was being held at Beirut’s seaside Phoenicia Hotel.

McCormack could not offer specifics about the blast or whether the vehicle had been targeted, but said it had been hit directly "by the explosion itself."

The driver was slightly wounded and the other staffer is fine, McCormack told reporters. He said no American diplomats or American citizens were in the car.

He said agents from the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security would be working with Lebanese authorities to investigate the blast and that the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was reviewing its security.

"We are going to take a look at what implications, if any, there are for our security posture in Beirut," McCormack said.

Television footage showed several damaged cars, including an SUV with tinted windows. Plainclothes security agents were seen removing an automatic rifle from the SUV.

Russia condemned the Tuesday bomb attack in Lebanon targeting a U.S. embassy vehicle that killed three civilians and wounded at least 20 others in a northern suburb of Beirut.

"We strongly condemn a new terrorist attack in Lebanon and express our sincere condolences to the relatives of the victims," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.