BEIRUT: A car bomb explosion ripped Tuesday through Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, wounding of at least 21 people, security sources said. Ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene of the blast site in Bir al-Abed just before noon and plumes of thick smoke could be seen from miles away.

 

At least a dozen vehicles in a parking lot were set on fire as residents rushed to rescue the wounded and clear the debris. Residents were urged the clear the area, fearing a second explosion. Hezbollah MP MP Ali Ammar said the resistance group was the clear target of the blast. “This malicious act clearly bears the fingerprints of the Israeli enemy and its tools,” Ammar said from Bir al-Abed. [Link]