By Xinhua
Ankara : The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday strongly condemned the assassination of Antoine Ghanem, a Lebanese lawmaker from the Phalange Party.
Turkey expressed profound sorrow over the killing of Ghanem, along with six others, in a bomb attack in Beirut on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement.
“Such attacks aim at dragging Lebanon into an atmosphere of instability,” said the statement, adding “Turkey, which is againstall kinds of acts of terror, strongly condemns this attack that targeted to disrupt the environment of security in Lebanon and in the region.”
“We wish that those, who are responsible for the attack, will be brought to justice as soon as possible. Turkey will continue making contributions and extending support to protection of peace and stability in Lebanon,” it said.
On Wednesday, Lebanese Christian lawmaker Antoine Ghanem was killed along with four others during an explosion in the Sin el-Fil district, a Christian suburb.
The explosion took place just a week before a parliament meeting due on Sept. 25, during which a new head of state will be elected to replace the incumbent President Emile Lahoud.
Lebanon has been rocked by a series of assassinations in recent years. In June, a similar blast in Beirut killed lawmaker Walid Eido and nine others.