Lebanon mourns for slain Muslim cleric

Press, 18 May 1989, Page 8

Lebanon mourns for slain Muslim cleric

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Muslims and Christians have pledged to observe a strike today to mourn the death of Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim religious leader, who was killed with 21 others in a car bomb blast in West Beirut. Hospital sources said at least 80 people werewounded in yesterday’s blast which police said was caused by 150 kg of explosives detonated by remote control. Shops, busineses and private and public institutions planned to shut throughout the country’s Christian and Muslim areas during Sheikh Hassan Khaled’s State funeral today, both as a mark of respect and a protest against his death.

Christian and Muslim leaders of all political persuasions condemned Sheikh Khaled’s killing ' and Lebanon’s warsplintered communities

united in outrage. The Acting Prime Minister, Selim Hoss, head of a Syrian-backed Cabinet vying for power with a rival Christian Government led by Army Commander Major-General Michel Aoun, ordered a week of national mourning. “A criminal hand killed the Mufti, a symbol of wisdom who stood for national reconciliation, unity and peace,” Mr Hoss said. General Aoun said in a statement: "The ugly crime proves that the hand of terrorism, oppression and plotting does not hesitate to strike at the religious leaders, the symbols of reason and moderation.” Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon with 40,000 troops, blamed the attack on General Aoun, whose forces have been locked in two months of fierce battles with Syrian

troops and their Muslim militia allies in and around Beirut. Sheikh Khaled, Lebanon’s Grand Mufti and a moderate who had tried to reconcile the country’s warring Muslim and Christian factions, died as he drove home from his office in the crowded Aishe Bakar district in Muslim West Beirut. Security sources said the bomb was apparently aimed at Sheikh Khaled’s convoy. His three bodyguards and a driver were also killed. Sheikh Khaled, aged 68, was the top religious authority for more than 700,000 Sunni Muslims in Lebanon. His death removed the most powerful voice of Lebanon’s Sunni sect, already weakened by the killing in 1987 of the Prime Minister, Rashid Karami, then the community’s leading political figure.