Bomb Kills Anti-Syrian In Lebanon

Journalist/Lawmaker Had Been In France To Avoid Assassination

(AP) 
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed shock and dismay at the "cold-blooded murder" and said those responsible must be brought to justice. Condemnation also came from Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora held emergency meetings with top security officials and told reporters he was pained and angered by the slaying. "The criminals are killing one after another, but we will not succumb no matter what the price."

Saniora said there was a direct link between the assassination and the release of the U.N. report, and said he would ask the Security Council to investigate a string of bombings in Lebanon since Syria withdrew its troops under international pressure after Hariri was killed.

The prime minister also called for the U.N. to convene an international tribunal in the Hariri slaying.

There also were demands from opponents of Syria to extend the U.N. probe into Hariri's assassination to include Tueni's death. The Cabinet would have to approve any new U.N. probe.

As news spread of Tueni's killing, church bells tolled, supporters shouted insults at Syria and men and women wept in the street and at the offices of An-Nahar.

"My God, Gibran, you were the only one who told the truth!" shouted one man, weeping at the scene of the bombing.

A fax claiming responsibility was sent to news organizations by "The Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom in al-Sham" — Arabic for the eastern Mediterranean region that includes Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian areas.

"We have broken the pen of Gibran Tueni and gagged his mouth forever, turning An-Nahar into a dark night," it said. "An-Nahar" is Arabic for day.

The statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed.

Tueni returned from France on Sunday to attend a government ceremony honoring his father, Ghassan Tueni, who was widely described as dean of the press corps in Lebanon. The elder Tueni, 79, returned to Beirut late Monday; funeral plans for his son were still pending.

A parked car packed with 88 pounds of TNT exploded as Tueni's motorcade passed in the industrial suburb of Mkalles, flinging his armor-plated vehicle and several other cars into a ravine. Tueni, his driver and a passer-by were killed. Thirty people were wounded in the bombing, which shattered store windows and incinerated at least 10 vehicles.

"May God have mercy on the latest of the martyrs for Lebanon's independence and sovereignty in the face of the dictatorial hegemony of (Syrian President) Bashar Assad," said Tueni's uncle, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, himself a survivor of a car bombing last year.

Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah denied his government was involved, telling LBC television: "Those who are behind this are the enemies of Lebanon."

However, Syrian officials and the state-run press have for weeks been criticizing the anti-Syrian sentiment in most of the Lebanese media and in some Arab countries.

Tueni is the fourth anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon killed in 14 bombings that began with the Feb. 14 blast that killed Hariri and 20 other people.