Lebanon's Spy Chief Killed by Beirut Bomb

Suspicions fall on Syria

A massive bomb ripped through a crowded Beirut street killed Lebanon's most senior intelligence official and at least seven others as Lebanon divisions over Syria's civil war spills over into factional conflict.

Gen Wissam al-Hassan, head of Lebanon's internal security forces and a known thorn in the side of the Bashar al-Asssad's Syrian regime, was fatally injured when a car packed with explosive detonated outside one of his homes.

The blast in the predominantly Christian quarter of central Beirut resulted in scenes reminiscent of the dark days of Lebanon's civil war.