Three Killed in Lebanon Bombing

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 13, 2007 — -- Two bombs exploded minutes apart today, in a mainly Christian town north of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing at least three people and wounding 18 others.

In what security officials called a coordinated attack, the bombs tore through two commuter buses carrying people to work, just a day before the second anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

According to eyewitnesses, the first explosion occurred shortly after 9 a.m. in a full minibus carrying 26 passengers; seven minutes later, another explosion ripped through a second minibus carrying 24 passengers that was more than 50 yards away.

Tania Khoury, 44, who'd been helping the wounded in the first bus, said: "We ran away when the second explosion occurred for fear of more."

She added: "I was terrified for my son. It reminded me of the civil war."

Khoury, who lives at a roadside snack bar near the scene, had tears in her eyes as she angrily shouted: "We just want to live. Nothing else. No one should have to die so horribly."

Some victims were blown apart, and their body parts were strewn across the street.

When the first bomb exploded, the driver of the second bus stopped and got out before his bus blew up. In both buses, the blast came from the rear; the second bus completely lost its roof.

The two blasts also shattered windows and other cars in the village of Ain Alak, near Bikfaya, the ancestral home of the prominent political Gemayel family, which is Christian.

Pierre Gemayel, a Cabinet member, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in November. His father, former President Amin Gemayel, visited the White House and met with Bush last week.

Sniffer dogs, accompanied by investigators wearing white, searched the scene as the police gathered evidence. Security officials believe the bombs were "banana-shaped" and weighed at least 4.4 pounds.

Officials say they think the devices were packed with metal pellets and placed under the buses' seats.