Four Lebanese bystanders have been killed in a bomb blast targeting a US embassy vehicle in a northern suburb of the capital, Beirut, US officials say.
No American diplomats or citizens were in the car at the time, but a Lebanese driver working for the embassy was hurt, the US State Department said. The powerful explosion shook the mainly Christian Doura area and send a thick plume of black smoke over the city.
Lebanon has been hit by a series of bomb attacks in recent years. Television footage from the scene showed damaged cars and blood stains on the street of a mixed commercial and residential area.The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says it is one of the main roads running through the north of the city.
"It's the early moments after this bombing; our security people working with the Lebanese government are going to take a look at the circumstances of the blast," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
