Eight die in Beirut bombing

Press, 26 February 1980, Page 8

Eight die in Beirut bombing

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Eighty people Jwjere : killed and at- -least ; .20 .. werd 1 wounded' yesterday by an attempt to assassinate the Lebanese 'right-wing leader, Mr Bdshir.- Geniayel, with a powerful remote-controlled bomb, his Falangist Party has said. The.victims included Mr Gemayel’s Only child, Maya, who was aged 18 months. The attack fuelled fears of more bloodshed. Eyewitnesses say the bomb, placed in a parked vehicle, was triggered as Mr Gemayel’s car was being driven along a busy thoroughfare in the predominantly Christian, eastern sector- of war-scarred Beirut.- The Rightist leader was at home at the time. ■ A Falangist ' ; spokesman said all four people in. the car, including Maya; 'died instantly. “Two more- were killed in aT;car~ travelling close behind*; Another .. two died-’later in hospital,” the spokesman said. -. The attack was the third attempt to kill a member of the powerful Gemayel family in the last eight months. The blast ripped through an area near, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, setting ablaze seven cars, flipping a heavy lorry on its side, ahd shattering windows 100 metres away.

The incident coincided with heightened tension in Lebanon after an announcement- by Syria early this month that it would with* draw its troops from Beirut,