Some 53 Lebanese wounded in Beirut southern Suburb Explosion

BEIRUT (ST) _ Number of  people injured as a result of the  powerful car bomb explosion in Beer al-Abed area in the southern suburbs of Beirut increased to 53,  and 41 persons left hospital after receiving necessary medication.

Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said that 53 people were wounded in Tuesday’s blast, which shattered windows and damaged several buildings in the busy area. A security official said the bomb was placed in a car and weighed 35 kilograms.

The car bomb struck a bustling commercial and residential neighborhood in Beer el-Abed, in a parking lot near the Islamic Coop, a supermarket usually packed with shoppers.

The Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salihi condemned the terrorist explosion  and voiced solidarity and sympathy with the wounded citizens.

“This crime targets Lebanon ‘s security and stability and the unity of its  people”, Salihi said in a  telephone call with his Lebanese peer Adnan Mansour following the explosion crime.

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the terrorist attack, underlined the need to bring the perpetrators to justice, and appealed to the Lebanese people “to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country’s stability.”

The European Union condemned the Beirut bombing, calling it an “appalling act of violence (that) underlines the need for all Lebanese to maintain their national unity.”

T. Fateh