Attack on Lebanese army kills 14

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - A bomb blast targeting the Lebanese army killed nine soldiers and five civilians in the northern city of Tripoli on Wednesday in the deadliest attack in the troubled country in three years.

The bombing, which left a child among the dead, came just hours before President Michel Sleiman began a landmark visit to Syria and the day after Lebanon's new national unity cabinet won parliamentary approval.

At least 40 people were also wounded in the blast that ripped through a shopping street in the heart of the Mediterranean port city during morning rush hour, a security official said.

A child shoeshiner was among the 14 dead, the official said, adding that nine of those killed and many of the wounded were soldiers.

"My son! My son!," screamed one mother striking her chest at a Tripoli hospital after learning that her 22-year-old soldier son was dead.

It was the deadliest attack since ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 other people were killed in a Beirut car bomb attack in February 2005.

It was also the worst bloodshed involving the army since a 15-week battle last year with the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam militia in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli that left 400 people dead, including 168 soldiers.

The army said the bomb was planted in a bag at a military gathering point in the Masarif Street commercial district and exploded near a public bus carrying soldiers from the northern region of Akkar.

"The terrorist explosion directly targets the army and peaceful co-existence in the country," an army statement said.

The attack came a day after a national unity government formed by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora following 18 months of deadly tensions with the Hezbollah-led opposition, finally won a vote of confidence in parliament.

The crisis had pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war and was only ended by an Arab-brokered power-sharing agreement in May.

Sleiman, who was army chief until his election as president by MPs in May, branded the attack a "terrorist crime," a sentiment echoed by Syria.

"The army and security forces will not be terrorised by attacks and crimes that target it and civil society, and the history of the army attests to that," Sleiman said.

The security official said the bomb was packed with 20 kilogrammes of explosives, and the force of the blast blew the remains of some of the dead on to the roofs of nearby buildings.

Oussama Safa, head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said the attack could have been one of a series he saw as retribution for the army's crushing of Fatah al-Islam last year.

Desperate families gathered at hospitals for news about their loved ones but were blocked by security from entering. One hospital official said identification was delayed because some bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.

Tripoli has been rocked by deadly violence in recent months.

In June and July, 23 people were killed in battles between Sunni Muslim supporters of Siniora and their Damascus-backed rivals from the Alawite community.

The fighting focused on the Sunni stronghold of Bab al-Tebbaneh and the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen district which are both a short distance from Masarif Street.

There has been tension between the two communities ever since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam and straddle the border into Syria whose President Bashar al-Assad is a follower of the faith.

The explosion came hours before Sleiman arrived in Damascus for a landmark summit with Assad where the two later announced diplomatic relations would be established for the first time.

"Syria staunchly denounces the criminal act perpetrated this morning in Tripoli that killed many innocent civilians," the Syrian foreign ministry said.

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri said the timing of the bombing reflects efforts "to prevent the improvement of Lebanese-Syrian relations."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "cowardly" attack and reaffirmed "unfailing support for Lebanon" in the fight against terrorism.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa said it was "aimed at complicating the security and political situation in Lebanon and hampering the launch of the new government."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack saying it should not "hinder the positive steps" taken in returning Lebanon to normality, while Saudi Arabia's SPA state news agency quoted an unnamed official as slamming the blast as an "abhorrent terrorist crime."