Bombs on buses kill three in Lebanon

EIN ALAQ, Lebanon – Bomb blasts killed three people on commuter buses Tuesday and lawmakers blamed Syria, stirring fears of clashes between Hezbollah and government supporters at a massive rally planned to mark the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister.

The explosions stoked fears of more turmoil as an already tense Lebanese capital braced for today’s commemoration for Rafik Hariri. A huge rally was planned at his grave – just feet from ongoing opposition protests seeking to topple the government.

Lebanon has been hit by a string of bombings the past two years that many government supporters blame on Syria. Syria has denied any role in the attacks, including the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on Feb. 14, 2005. Outrage over the assassination forced Damascus to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months later, ending a 29-year presence.

After Tuesday’s blasts, the pro-government majority coalition in parliament said in a statement that it holds “the Syrian regime fully responsible for this despicable crime.” It accused Syria of trying to “make Lebanon another Iraq by destroying its security and stability.”

The coalition called on the Arab League to impose sanctions against members of the Syrian regime and demanded U.N. troops be deployed along the Lebanon-Syria border “to halt the flow of arms to subversive groups directly linked to this regime” – a reference to pro-Syrian groups.

The bombs Tuesday ripped through two commuter buses traveling on a busy mountain highway northeast of Beirut, killing three and wounding 20, police said.

Witnesses at Ein Alaq, a village in pine-wooded mountains a 30-minute drive northeast of Beirut, said the first bomb exploded in a bus around 9 a.m. As people rushed to the scene, a second explosion, about 10 minutes later, tore through a second bus that had driven up.

The buses were carrying people to work, and witnesses said they pass at 10-minute intervals, ferrying people from Christian mountain villages to the coast and Beirut while stopping along the way for whoever hails them or wants to get off.

Pro-government groups said the attacks were intended to scare people away from today’s rally for Hariri, who was an opponent of neighboring Syria’s interference in Lebanese affairs. They were adamant the gathering would not be canceled.

“We will hunt down the criminals and confront them,” the U.S.-backed prime minister, Fuad Saniora, vowed in a televised speech Tuesday evening. “We will not back down in our search for truth. We will remain intent on preserving national unity.”