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Bomb wounds 12 in lebanese christian village Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=AJ5S0Q35ZBFOACRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=8065724http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=AJ5S0Q35ZBFOACRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=8065724
Bomb Wounds 12 in Lebanese Christian Village
Fri Apr 1, 2005 04:24 PM ET
By Lin Noueihed
BROUMMANA, Lebanon (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through a shopping center in a Christian resort village east of Beirut late on Friday, wounding 12 people and causing extensive damage, civil defense officials said.
The blast occurred shortly after Lebanon's parliament speaker said pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami would try again to form a government to supervise elections due in May, rather than step down as he had previously said.
One U.S. citizen was among those wounded when the explosion rocked Rizk Plaza in Broummana, popular with Arab tourists in the summer, witnesses said. It was the fourth bomb attack on Christian areas in or around the capital in two weeks.
The bomb exploded in the underground car park of the center, shattering windows and setting several cars on fire, reducing them to blackened hulks of twisted metal.
"What do they want with us? Why don't they leave us alone? We just want to live in security," said Marie Aswan, who lives in an apartment across the road from the shopping complex.
She told Reuters her son and son-in-law had been taken to hospital with cuts from flying shards of glass that hit them when the explosion blew out windows in their home.
Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt blamed the bombing on Lebanon's Syrian-backed security services, saying they "only want terrorism and know their days are numbered."
"They are trying to terrorize the people, but the people ... won't be brought to their knees," he told Al Jazeera television.
POLITICAL TURMOIL
Lebanon has been in political turmoil since former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated in a huge bomb attack that killed 19 other people in the heart of Beirut on Feb. 14.
The opposition seized on mass protests after Hariri's killing to demand Syria end a 29-year military and intelligence presence in Lebanon. Damascus has since begun a pullout.
Karami had said this week he would resign after failing to persuade the anti-Syrian opposition to join a unity cabinet.
But parliament's speaker Nabih Berri said after a meeting of pro-Syrian politicians that Karami had agreed to stay on to form a cabinet "as soon as possible."
"Those meeting have unanimously declared their refusal to give up on their demand for a government of national unity led by Prime Minister Omar Karami," Berri said.
Lebanese opposition leaders accused Syria and its local allies on Thursday of trying to delay elections to prolong the life of the chamber that is largely loyal to Damascus.
Karami resigned more than a month ago under popular pressure from Lebanese angered by the killing of his predecessor Hariri.
But parliament reappointed Karami to form a national unity government. His old cabinet remains in a caretaker capacity.
Berri said any new government would draw up a draft law organizing the elections based on large constituencies -- which some analysts say would favor pro-Syrian candidates.
A prominent Christian politician said the opposition would contest and win the elections even if they were delayed.
"We are (putting up) a fight in order to avoid any delay and I think that even a technical delay is the first step to destroying the parliamentary democratic system that we have in Lebanon," Maronite Christian deputy Boutros Harb told Reuters.
Thirty-five opposition deputies signed a petition demanding prompt elections and accusing Karami and Berri of procrastinating to avoid defeat at the polls.
Syria promised the United Nations this week to withdraw all its troops before the elections.
Three Syrian military trucks drove across the border from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley as the pullout continued on Friday, witnesses said. (Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki)
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