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AFP via translation -

Strong explosion in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut

BEIRUT - A Christian quarter of Beirut was rocked Friday morning by a loud explosion, officials told AFP witnesses.
"We have information on an explosion which took place in the district of Hazmieh, in the east of Beirut, said a source of security to AFP.
Initial information ranged explosion in the district bordering Furn el-Chebbak.
The explosion, whose origin was still unknown, made numerous damage, according to images broadcast on television. Several cars caught fire and others were completely destroyed. Ambulances, sirens screaming, were en route to the scene of the explosion which gave off a large black smoke.
The explosion occurs 10 days after an attack which targeted near Beirut car of the United States embassy, killing three.

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Peaceful palestinians letting off a little steam.

At least 10 killed in Beirut blast

At least 10 people were killed and an unknown number were wounded in an explosion on a main road in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut on Friday.

Firefighters try to extinguish burning cars at the site of the previous explosion in Beirut, 15/01/08 Photo: AP

Local networks say that the device was a stationary bomb weighing around 40kg.

It is currently thought that the probable target of the attack a senior Lebanese police officer involved in recent clashes with the Palestinian al-Qaeda-linked Fatah Al-Islam group in the northern Lebanon town of Nahr el- Bared.

Lebanese media reported that he was killed in the blast.

Lebanon has been hit by a series of explosions, some of them political assassinations, amid a deepening 14-month political crisis.

The explosion came a day after a labor strike that was largely peaceful, and 10 days after a car bomb aimed at a US Embassy car killed three bystanders.