BEIRUT: Four people were killed and 77 others were wounded Thursday in a car bomb that struck Haret Hreik, a neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs where Hezbollah enjoys broad support, the Health Ministry said.
Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said human remains inside the vehicle used in the explosion suggested a suicide bomber may have been involved.
A judicial source told The Daily Star "DNA tests are being conducted on human remains that have yet to be identified."
The 4.10 p.m. blast, which the Army said resulted from 20 kilograms of explosives material, caused plumes of black smoke to blanket the sky as ambulances rushed to the area.
Hundreds of residents flocked to the area to help in the rescue effort, pulling dead and wounded out from the rubble.
The blast site was strewn with debris. Several buildings were damaged and flames engulfed vehicles parked on Al-Arid Street, where the explosives-rigged vehicle had been parked.
“I fell suddenly to the floor,” a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Daily Star, recounting the moment of the explosion.
“Civil Defense teams then evacuated us but we were about to suffocate from the smoke,” the woman, trying to catch her breath, said.
“I have heard nothing of my brother’s family,” she yelled, fearing for the lives of her relatives.