Car Bomb Kills 4 in Shiite Beirut Neighborhood

Second bombing in the area this month

A car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood in south Beirut on Tuesday, killing four people and sending plumes of smoke over the area in the latest attack to target supporters of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.

It was the second bombing in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik this month amid a series of attacks that have shaken Lebanon in a spillover of Syria's civil war into its smaller neighbor. The violence has targeted both Sunnis and Shiites, and further stoked sectarian tensions that are already running high as each Lebanese community lines up with its brethren on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict.

Tuesday's explosion shattered shop windows and set cars ablaze on a crowded commercial street. Footage broadcast by the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar television station showed medics hauling a man on a stretcher out of the area as flames engulfed a building. Debris littered the pavement.