Local television showed footage of a damaged building, with one hole
in a concrete wall, and said shattered glass had fallen to the ground
from several storeys up.
A bomb exploded outside the
headquarters of Lebanese Blom Bank in central Beirut on Sunday, causing
damage but no fatalities, the interior minister said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The
Lebanese banking sector has been at the centre of an escalating crisis
since the United States passed a law requiring banks to take steps to
target the finances of the armed Shi'ite political group Hezbollah.
Lebanon's
central bank has pushed its commercial banks to heed the U.S. act, and
Blom Bank is one of those that has closed accounts belonging to people
suspected of links to Hezbollah. The group had no immediate comment on
the blast.
The Lebanese Red Cross said two people
had suffered minor injuries in the blast, which took place around 8 p.m.
in the Verdun area of Beirut, the National News Agency reported.
Local
television showed footage of a damaged building, with one hole in a
concrete wall, and said shattered glass had fallen to the ground from
several storeys up.
The head of Lebanon's internal security force, Ibrahim Basbous,
said the bomb had contained around 15 kg of explosive material and had
been placed in a flower bed, the National News Agency said.
Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said: "Politically it is clear that the target was Blom Bank only."
He said the attack had nothing to do with the militant group Islamic State, which has mounted suicide bombings in Beirut.
The
last bomb attack to hit the Lebanese capital killed more than 40 people
in November in the southern suburbs, an area where Hezbollah is
dominant. That bombing was claimed by the Sunni Muslim Islamic State.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil tweeted that the attack had "targeted the stability of the whole of Lebanon".
TARGETING HEZBOLLAH'S FINANCES
Heavily-armed,
Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is classified as a terrorist group by
the United States, wields enormous political influence in Lebanon and
its powerful military wing is playing a major role in backing President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian conflict.
The
U.S. Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act (HIFPA), passed
in December, threatens to punish any organisation providing significant
finance to Hezbollah.
It has ignited a dispute
between Hezbollah and a central bank widely seen as a pillar of the
otherwise weak and dysfunctional Lebanese state.
The central bank has said the U.S. law must be applied to avoid the international isolation of Lebanon's banking sector.
Hezbollah's
parliamentary bloc issued a statement last week reiterating its
criticism of the central bank's position, saying the U.S. law infringed
Lebanon's national sovereignty.
Hezbollah, whose
fighters played a major role in forcing Israel to withdraw from southern
Lebanon in 2000, enjoys strong support in the Lebanese Shi'ite
community. Its members include government ministers, lawmakers and local
councillors.
Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri,
a former prime minister and leader of the Future Movement political
party, condemned Sunday's attack at a party event. "Our battle with
terrorism, bombings, killings, assassinations and direct and indirect
messages is long ... Terrorism will not intimidate the Lebanese."
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