By Xinhua
Berlin : German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier strongly condemned Friday the bloody attack in Lebanon which killed at least four people and injured scores of others.
“I was deeply concerned to learn that yet again several people, including a member of the Lebanese security forces, have fallen victim to the violence in Lebanon,” Steinmeier said in a written statement.
“The Federal Government condemns this latest attack in the Beirut area in the strongest possible terms,” he added.
The minister urged all political forces in Lebanon and throughout the region to stop the violence at its roots and to allow for the immediate election of a new president and the formation of a government on the basis of the Arab League initiative.
Earlier Friday, a huge explosion rocked a Christian neighborhood in Beirut, leaving at least four people dead, including a senior police intelligence officer, and 20 others injured.
During the last three years Lebanon has been rocked by a series of blasts, with the first, an assassination attempt against Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade, taking place on Oct. 1,2004.
On Feb. 14, 2005, Premier Rafik Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive bomb explosion in Beirut.
The most recent attempt was witnessed on Jan. 15, when a U.S. embassy vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in northern Beirut, killing three people and wounding 21 others.