An explosion ripped through a U.S. Embassy vehicle Tuesday as it traveled along a coastal highway north of Beirut, killing four Lebanese civilian bystanders, a U.S. State Department spokesman told CNN.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the driver of the vehicle was slightly injured and the only passenger -- a foreign service national -- was not hurt.
McCormack could not confirm that the vehicle was the target of the blast, or if it tripped a roadside bomb intended for a different target.
A Western diplomatic source said an American, an Iraqi and three Lebanese were among those wounded in the blast, which happened around 4:45 p.m. (9:45 a.m. ET).
Lebanese media reported about 20 people were injured in the blast, which appears to be the latest in a series of attacks against pro-Western, anti-Syrian targets in the Lebanese capital.
Most recently, an explosion in Beirut's Christian suburb of Baabda killed Brig. Gen. Francois Al-Hajj, the head of operations for the Lebanese army, and his bodyguard on December 12.
My guess is that Fatah al Islam or Hizbullah was behind the attack.
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