BEIRUT—A car bomb damaged a U.S. diplomatic vehicle in Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least three people and wounding 16, but the U.S. State Department said no Americans were hurt by the blast.
The bomb sent a column of smoke into the sky, tore masonry from buildings and destroyed at least six cars in a Christian suburb north of Beirut, as well as damaging the armoured four-by-four embassy car.
The blast coincided with U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Saudi Arabia as part of a week-long tour of U.S. Middle East allies.
Bush is not visiting Lebanon, though Washington has been a strong backer of the Beirut government in its power struggle with the Hezbollah-led opposition backed by Syria.
Lebanese security sources put the death toll at three -- two Lebanese and a Syrian -- but the U.S. State Department said the bomb killed four Beirut residents. None worked for the embassy.
"There were no American diplomats or American citizens in the car at the time," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. A Lebanese national working for the U.S. embassy and a driver were in the car when it was attacked, and the driver was slightly wounded, he said. An American passerby was wounded.
Lebanese and U.S. security officials were at the scene, where rescue workers covered a corpse with plastic sheeting. Pools of blood covered the road.
"It was very clearly an act of terror," McCormack said.
The security sources said two of the dead were passengers of a car behind the U.S. vehicle. The third had been walking nearby and the fourth was thought to be a Sri Lankan maid.
Lebanon has seen more than 30 explosions in the past three years, many hitting anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
Members of the U.S.-backed governing coalition who have blamed Damascus for previous attacks condemned the bombing but did not name any suspects.
Political, Security Woes
Lebanon's stability has also been rocked by attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in the south and an insurrection by al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants in the north last year.
Alongside its security problems, the country has been suffering a political conflict pitting the governing coalition against the Hezbollah-led opposition.
Governing coalition leader Saad al-Hariri said the bombing aimed to destabilise Lebanon and block its recovery. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa is due in Beirut on Wednesday to resume a mediation effort to resolve the conflict.
The dispute has paralysed government for more than a year and blocked the election of a new president, leaving Lebanon with no head of state for the first time since its 1975-1990 civil war.
U.S. personnel in Lebanon were targeted during that conflict by Iranian-backed groups, including militants who blew up the U.S. embassy in 1983 and kidnapped American diplomats.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and listed by Washington as a terrorist group, last week described Bush's tour as a "black day" for the region. The group had no immediate comment on the attack.
U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman is due to leave his post at the end of January and the embassy cancelled a farewell reception marking his departure later in the day.
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