An explosion targeting a US Embassy vehicle yesterday in northern Beirut killed four Lebanese and injured a local embassy employee, an American official said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said two embassy employees --including the driver --were in the vehicle damaged in the blast, which could be heard across the Lebanese capital and sent gray smoke billowing near the Mediterranean coast.
The driver was slightly wounded and the other staffer is fine, McCormack told reporters. He said no US citizens or diplomats were in the vehicle.
McCormack said four Lebanese were killed in the explosion.
A senior US official, who was not authorized to release the information and spoke condition of anonymity, said no Americans injured or killed.
The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military rules, told The Associated Press the explosion was in the predominantly Christian Dora-Karantina neighbourhood.
Television footage showed several damaged cars, including an SUV with tinted windows, similar to those used by US diplomats. Plainclothes security agents were seen removing an automatic rifle from the SUV.
In the past three years, a series of explosions in Lebanon have targeted mainly anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
The last car bombing on Dec 12 in Beirut's suburb of Baabda killed Lebanese army Maj. Gen. Francois Hajj and two other people.