Beirut explosion targets U.S. Embassy vehicle
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - January 15, 2008 The blast, which damaged the armored SUV and several other
vehicles, took place just ahead of a farewell reception for the
American ambassador at a hotel in central Beirut.
No Americans were in the car, which was carrying two Lebanese
employees of the embassy, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said in Washington.
There were conflicting accounts of the death toll, with the
State Department, from information provided by the U.S. Embassy in
Beirut, saying four people had been killed and Lebanese authorities
saying that only three had died.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the bombing a
"terrorist attack."
"The United States will, of course, not be deterred in its
efforts to help the Lebanese people, to help the democratic forces
in Lebanon, to help Lebanon resist force and interference in their
affairs," she told reporters in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
