Bomb in south of Beirut kills at least 22

Lebanese authorities are seriously considering the possibility a suicide bomber may have been behind the deadly car bombing a day earlier in the southern suburb of Beirut, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Friday. The other possibility, Charbel told the Voice of Lebanon radio station, is that the vehicle was detonated by remote control.

A car bomb ripped Thursday through the southern Beirut suburb of Ruwaiss, a stronghold of Hezbollah, causing many casualties and extensive damage in the area. Like a previous car bomb in the southern suburb of Bir al-Abed in July, Thursday’s attack is believed to be linked to crisis in neighboring Syria.
Charbel said the latest death toll stood at 22.Some seven people are still missing and there are about 300 wounded. Lebanese President, Michel Suleiman, called for a meeting for the Supreme Defense Council to be held at 10:30 am (Lebanese time) in the Presidential Palance in Baabda.