3 killed in Lebanon bus blasts

At least three people were killed Tuesday morning in two explosions on the road leading to the the Lebanese Christian mountain town of Bikfaya, the home town of former President Amin Gemayel, whose son Pierre was assassinated in November in Beirut.

According to reports, the blasts occurred in minibuses and 20 people were wounded.

Security sources had earlier put the death toll at 11. A police spokesman said the report of three deaths was preliminary and the toll could rise.

Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa said early information was that the bombs had exploded inside the minibuses. He made the remarks in an interview with a local network, but failed to provide additional details.

The attacks on the public buses occurred a day before the second anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"This is another terrorist attempt to exert control over Lebanon with blood and repression," charged Minister of Social Affairs Nayla Moawad, a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.

"It is an attempt to say that everyone in the freedom march is a target, this is a clear message to threaten all the Lebanese," Moawad said.

Security fears have been running high in Lebanon since clashes last month between supporters and opponents of the Western-backed government.

An army spokesman said one explosion had ripped through a minibus carrying passengers near the town, causing casualties. He said it appeared from first reports that the second blast had hit another minibus in the same area. The two buses belong to the Lebanese public transportation service.

'A person left something on the bus'

Eyewitnesses reported of heavy damage caused to the wrecked buses. A large number of rescue services were dispatched to the area and attended to the injured. Military forces also arrived at the scene of the blasts.

One of the eyewitnesses told the al-Jazeera network that an unknown person left "something" on one of the buses.

Television footage showed several destroyed vehicles, including a minibus with its roof torn off, on a mountain road. Pools of blood lay near one vehicle.

The head of the Lebanese Red Cross said at least three dead and six wounded had been taken to a nearby hospital. "There could be more casualties," Georges Kettani told Reuters.

Pierre Gemayel was industry minister in Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government, which has been locked for months in a power struggle with the Hizbullah-led opposition.

The bombings were the first since Gemayel's killing, which was one of a string of actual or attempted political assassinations since Hariri's slaying on February 14, 2005.

Many Lebanese accused Syria of masterminding Hariri's killing and the subsequent attacks. Damascus has denied any role. A UN Inquiry has yet to complete its investigation.