5 killed in Beirut car bomb attack
At least five people have been killed and more than 20 injured in a car bomb attack in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Ambulances are at the scene.
According to local media, the blast destroyed part of a building in a densely populated area of the Haret Hreik district. The suburb is a stronghold of the Shia militant group Hezbollah. So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Lebanese capital has been hit by a series of bombs in recent months, including one last week which killed 23 people.
A former minister and political opponent of Hezbollah was among the dead. this latest bombing comes just a day after the head of a Sunni jihadist group was arrested and interrogated by Lebanese intelligence agents.
Majid al-Majid, leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, is the alleged mastermind behind a suicide bomb attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut in November. His group has warned that attacks will continue in Lebanon until Iranian and Hezbollah forces stop fighting alongside government forces in Syria.
