BEIRUT — A suicide car bomber today blew up an explosive-laden BMW in the main square of Jezzine, the largest Christian town in southern Lebanon, police reported.
They said that the car was driven by a woman and that she died in the 11:45 a.m. blast, which also wounded three civilians. Two cars were demolished and several shops wrecked, police said.
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a leftist Lebanese faction backed by Syria, claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Jezzine, a town of 50,000 people 25 miles southeast of Beirut and 11 miles east of Sidon, is controlled by the Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army militia. Militiamen ringed Jezzine after the blast and blocked traffic on all roads leading to the city.