Lebanon's highest court on Thursday asked the chief prosecutor investigating last year's massive Beirut port explosion to step down, following legal challenges by senior officials he had accused of negligence that led to the blast, a judicial official and the country's official news agency said.
The Court of Cassation called for a new investigating judge to be appointed to lead the probe, nearly six months after it had started.
The development is likely to further delay the investigation into the horrific explosion that killed more than 200 people, wounded over 6,000 and disfigured much of Beirut.