Militant link investigated in Lebanese bombing

Published 10:49 pm Thursday, December 13, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Army investigators on Thursday looked into the possible involvement of al-Qaida-inspired extremists in the bombing that killed a Lebanese general who had led a major offensive against Islamic militants.

The beleaguered government sought to reassure the public as many worried that even the military — seen as the sole institution holding the country together — was now a target in Lebanon’s unending political turmoil.

Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj, chief of the military’s operations, and his driver were killed as he left his home for work Wednesday, when a parked car bomb exploded in Baabda, a Christian suburb east of Beirut.

Four Lebanese who were believed connected to the car used in the blast were being questioned, security officials said.

Hajj led a three-month military campaign that crushed an al-Qaida-inspired militant group known as Fatah Islam in Nahr el-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. That raised suspicion the assassination may have been an act of revenge.