Hariri implies Hezbollah responsible for Beirut bombing

Hariri implies Hezbollah responsible for Beirut bombing

BEIRUT - Saad Hariri, the head of a Lebanese coalition opposed to the Syrian regime, on Friday implied that Damascus ally Hezbollah was responsible for a Beirut bombing that killed his adviser.

Top aide Mohammad Chatah and four other people were killed in the early morning car bomb explosion in central Beirut and more than 50 were wounded, the state news agency NNA said.

Hariri said those responsible for Chatah's murder, are "those who are hiding from international justice and who have spread the regional fire to the (Lebanese) nation" - in a clear reference to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Shiite fighters are helping Syrian regime troops fight rebels who are supported by groups such as the March 14 anti-Syrian coalition headed Saad Hariri, a Sunni ex-prime minister.

Hezbollah has also refused to hand over suspects wanted by a UN-backed tribunal investigating the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of Hariri's father and ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.

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