Grenade blast hits car of Lebanon judge”s wife

 

A grenade blast set ablaze a car belonging to the wife of a top military prosecutor in Lebanon on Monday, but no-one was injured, a senior security official said.
 
The attack occurred the day after Lebanon again delayed a parliamentary vote to choose a new president because of prolonged political deadlock between the Western-backed ruling coalition and the Syrian-backed opposition.

 

The grenade was thrown at the car of the wife of assistant military prosecutor Judge Ahmed Oueidat while it was parked outside their home in Museitbeh, a Muslim district of Beirut, the security official told AFP.

 

“We dont know whether the attack was politically motivated. We are not sure which car was targeted. An investigation is under way,” he said.

 

The blast also destroyed a car belonging to a relative of former Lebanese presidential guard chief General Mustafa Hamdan, who was arrested over the 2005 assassination of former billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

 

A parliament session had been due to take place on Monday to elect a successor to former pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud, who stood down in November.

 

But the speaker”s office announced on Sunday the vote had been delayed, for the 13th time, to February 11 to allow time for the feuding political factions to try to agree on an Arab League-sponsored initiative to end the crisis.

 

Since Hariri”s murder, Lebanon has been rocked by a wave of attacks mainly targeting prominent anti-Syrian figures.

 

Picture: A Lebanese police stands guard near a damaged car that belongs to the wife of Judge Ahmed Oueidat, in Moseitbeh, a Muslim residential neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon Moday, Jan. 21, 2008. A grenade explosion set a parked car belonging to the wife of the assistant military prosecutor on fire and damaged several other vehicles in Beirut early Monday but caused no injuries, police said. The latest violence came a day after a parliamentary session to elect a new president was delayed when the Arab League secretary-general failed to break a presidential deadlock after talks with Lebanon”s feuding factions and Syrian officials.
(AP Photo/Ahmad Omar)