BEIRUT — A bomb hidden on a Beirut highway hit a U.S. Embassy vehicle Tuesday, killing at least three Lebanese bystanders in the first attack in years targeting American diplomatic interests in the country.
The car’s Lebanese driver and an American at a nearby school were among five people injured.
The blast, just before a farewell reception for the U.S. ambassador in downtown Beirut, came at a time when political tensions are high in Lebanon, with the U.S.-backed government and Syrian-backed opposition deadlocked over choosing a new president.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed “outrage” over the attack, calling it an act of terrorism.
It appeared to be the first time the United States has been targeted in a politically motivated attack in Lebanon since the mid-1980s when U.S. troops were deployed in the aftermath of Israel’s invasion of the country and a civil war was raging.
During that time, Lebanon was the scene of some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in U.S. history, including the 1983 Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members.
That attack prompted then-President Ronald Reagan to withdraw American forces from Lebanon. The same year, the U.S. Embassy was hit by a car bomb, killing 17 Americans.
Tuesday’s bomb was hidden among garbage containers and went off as the armored sport utility vehicle passed.
Mathew Clason, a Minnesota native on a two-week visit to Lebanon, was at the nearby National Evangelical Church when the bomb went off.
“The windows blew in and I fell down. I was knocked out. I don’t know exactly what happened,” Clason said from Jeitawi Hospital in Beirut, his head and right leg bandaged.
The SUV was damaged, but the brunt of the blast was taken by a BMW behind it, in which two people were killed, Lebanese security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The third dead person was not immediately identified.
