Dubai: The two people killed in a mysterious late night blast in Beirut's southern suburbs were both Hamas members, a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist movement told Al-Arabiya television on Sunday.
"The explosion in the southern suburbs resulted in the martyrdom of two members of Hamas and wounded three other people," the spokesman, Ayman Taha, said on the Saudi-owned, Dubai-based station.
He added that "the circumstances of the explosion are unclear and it is too early to name the party" responsible for it.
A Lebanese security official had earlier said that at least two people were killed and several wounded in the Saturday night explosion.
"The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined," the official added.
Lebanon's official National News Agency said that the blast was caused by bombs placed under the car of a possible Hamas member, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV station said it occurred in a Hamas office.
The explosion came on the eve of the climax of Ashura, when Shiites commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein by forces of the Sunni caliph Yazid at the Battle of Karbala in 680, in what is now Iraq.
A photographer said the blast occurred metres (yards) from a community centre where Hezbollah was organising a ceremony to commemorate Ashura.
Attacks are rare in Shiite Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs, where the group maintains tight security.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, December 27, 2009, 20:44