Beirut: A top Lebanese army officer and his bodyguard were killed today in a powerful car bomb that further destabilised the country as it grapples with a presidential vacuum.

A military spokesman told AFP that Brigadier General Francois El-Hajj, head of army operations, and his bodyguard were killed in the blast as their car drove through the suburb of Baabda, which houses the presidential palace and several embassies.

Officials said Hajj, 54,was targeted as he was tipped to replace army chief General Michel Sleiman, the front-runner to become Lebanon's next president but whose election has been blocked by a standoff between pro and anti-Syrian camps.

Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 when Emile Lahoud ended his term with rival parties unable to agree on a successor. Today's attack was the first of its kind against the Lebanese military, seen as a unifying force in a country mired in its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing which followed a string of political assassinations over the past three years. An army spokesman said the blast involved a 35-kilogramme bomb in a BMW car. It detonated just after 1030 (IST) as Haj was heading to the nearby defence ministry.

The bodies of the general and bodyguard Khairallah Hedwan were hurled into a ravine by the force of the explosion, which blew out the windows of nearby buildings and left several cars burning.

Source : PTI