Agence France-Presse,
BEIRUT: A top Lebanese army officer and his bodyguard were killed on Wednesday in a powerful car bomb that further destabilised the country as it grapples with a presidential vacuum.
A military spokesman told AFP that Brigadier General Francois El-Hajj, head of army operations, and his bodyguard were killed in the blast as their car drove through the suburb of Baabda, where the presidential palace and several embassies are located.
Officials said Hajj, 54, was targeted because he was tipped to become the new army commander-in-chief, replacing General Michel Sleiman, frontrunner to become the next president.
But Sleiman's election has been blocked by a standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian camps that has left the country without a head of state since November 23 when Emile Lahoud's term ended.
Wednesday's attack was the first of its kind against the military, seen as a unifying force in a country mired in its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing which followed a string of political assassinations.
An army spokesman said a 35-kilo (77-pound) bomb in a BMW car detonated just after 7:00 am (0500 GMT) as Hajj was heading to the defence ministry.
The bodies of the general and bodyguard Khairallah Hedwan were hurled into a ravine by the explosion, which also set several cars ablaze.
The Red Cross said eight people were also wounded, none seriously.
Hajj gained prominence last summer during a fierce 15-week battle between the army and an Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist group at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Several officials said his assassination was linked to the crisis over the presidency and possibly also the battle at Nahr al-Bared, which rallied the nation behind the army.
“My first reaction is that this is linked to Nahr al-Bared, that it is a revenge attack,” said Butros Harb, an MP with the ruling Western-backed majority.
“But I am not sure that this is not also a message to the army in order to destabilise it and remove the halo around it at a time when the commander-in-chief has been tipped to become president,” he added.
Hajj family members wept in his hometown of Rmaish, near the border with Israel, and spoke of him as a hero.
“My son is a hero and heroes never die, he will remain alive in our hearts,” his mother Kafa al-Aalam told AFP.
Officials from the Western-backed ruling majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition denounced the killing as a callous act designed to destabilise Lebanon.
“This heinous crime is one of a series of crimes that have targeted Lebanese institutions and leaders… and now is targeting the military and the army command in a bid to foil the presidential election,” Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said.
In New York the office of the UN secretary general said Ban Ki-moon “strongly condemns this act of violence and terror on the Lebanese armed forces, a symbol of Lebanon's sovereignty.”
The United States also condemned the attack.
“President (George W.) Bush will continue to stand with the Lebanese people as they counter those who attempt to undermine their security and freedom,” US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Syria, which has been implicated in political assassinations in Lebanon but denies involvement, indirectly pointed a finger at Israel.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem called the bombing a “criminal act” that “threatens the security and stability of Lebanon… which are both vital and important issues for Syria.”
Sleiman visited the site of the blast and urged Lebanon's rival parties not to use Hajj's killing as a political tool and pledged that terrorism would not dent the army's resolve.
“The army today is stronger than ever because the martyr Hajj has left us his blood as a legacy,” he said in a statement.
On Tuesday an eighth session of parliament to elect Sleiman president was postponed amid a tug-of-war between politicians over how to amend the constitution to allow him to assume the post.
Rival parties have also been at loggerheads over the make-up of the new cabinet and who would be appointed to sensitive security posts, including that of army chief.
The stalemate has prompted fears of total chaos in a country which has seen eight anti-Syrian MPs and politicians killed in three years.
One murdered MP, Gibran Tueni, died in a car bomb attack exactly two years ago, on December 12, 2005.
Hajj, who is survived by his wife and three children, will be buried on Friday.
