(14 Feb 2005)
1. Various shots of mourners (for former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri) outside the American University Hospital
2. Medical staff preparing stretchers for the arrival of wounded
3. Wounded person being stretchered away
4. Various shots of mourners outside the American University Hospital
STORYLINE:
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive bomb explosion that destroyed his motorcade, the official Lebanese News Agency said Monday.
Hariri led the country for much of the 15-year period after its civil war ended in 1990 but had recently switched to opposing Syria's role in the country,
People gathered outside the American University Hospital of Beirut to mourn Hariri and the dead as some of the wounded arrived.
Hariri moved toward the opposition camp after leaving office in October - in large part because of a dispute concerning Syria's controversial role in Lebanon.
He had rejected a Syrian-backed insistence that a rival politician, President Emile Lahoud, remain in office as president for a longer period.
A statement from the American University Hospital said Hariri arrived dead at the hospital, his body mutilated in the massive explosion.
Nine other people were also killed in the massive blast and 100 wounded, the news agency said. Several of Hariri's bodyguards were among those hurt or killed, according to a Lebanese legislato at the scene.
At least 20 cars were set on fire in a blast that devastated the front of the famous St. George Hotel, blowing off balconies, and damaged a British bank and the Phoenicia Hotel.
Explosions in Beirut - while common during the 1975-90 civil war - have become rare since the conflict ended.
However, in October, amid rising tensions between the government and opposition groups, a car bomb seriously injured an opposition politician and killed his driver in Beirut.
Hariri is a self-made (b) billionaire who has led Lebanon for 10 of the years since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Since he resigned in October, he has been considered in the opposition. He has been in a rivalry with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud for years.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.
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