MIDDLE EAST: A previously unknown group calling itself Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon, claimed to have carried out yesterday's bombing which killed former Lebanon prime minsiter Mr Rafik Hariri.
The group called the attack the first of a campaign of "martyrdom attacks" aimed at "infidels, renegades and tyrants".
In a video aired on the al-Jazeera television network, a bearded man in a turban read a statement on behalf of the group, describing the killing as "just punishment" for Mr Hariri's close ties to the Saudi government.
According to the Associated Press, Lebanese authorities identified the man as Ahmed Abu Adas, a Palestinian who lives in Beirut's western district of Tariq al-Jadidah.
Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to AP, said he left his house early on Monday and never came back. They said he was suspected of having links with al-Qaeda. A computer and other equipment were confiscated from his house, the officials added.
It was not clear whether the explosion was a suicide bomb, nor whether the explosives (estimated as the equivalent of 300kg of TNT) had been packed in a car, on the side of the street, or hidden under the road.
The assassination threatened to raise tensions across the Middle East, where a Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire last week had given hope of more peaceful times.
It could also worsen the fraught relations between Damascus and Washington, which believes the Syrian government is turning a blind eye to the flow of weapons and insurgents into Iraq and undermining efforts to bring peace to the region.
US President George Bush began his second term in the White House by warning Syria that he would confront it for "harbouring terrorists" within its borders and in Lebanon.
Yesterday, the White House came close to blaming Syria's presence in Lebanon for Mr Hariri's murder, describing the attack as "a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political future, free from violence, and intimidation and free from Syrian occupation".
Opposition leaders in Lebanon went further, directly blaming Syria alongside the Lebanese government. "We hold the Lebanese authority and the Syrian authority, being the authority of tutelage in Lebanon, responsible for this crime and other similar crimes," they said in a statement.
From Damascus, Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, swiftly issued a statement condemning "this horrible criminal action", and expressing condolences to the families of the victims.
- (Guardian Service)