Lebanon to bury anti-Syrian MP killed by car bomb

BEIRUT, June 14 (Reuters) Lebanon prepared to bury anti-Syrian legislator Walid Eido today, a day after he was killed in a car bomb attack his allies blamed on Damascus.

Eido, his eldest son, two bodyguards and six passers-by were killed yesterday's attack near a Beirut beach club.

The Sunni Muslim legislator was the seventh anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated since February 2005 when former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed in a suicide truck bombing.

Businesses, banks and schools were shut in Beirut and many other parts of Lebanon as the country observed a national day of mourning.

Eido and his son were due to be buried in Beirut after Muslim noon prayers 1530 hrs IST.

Eido belonged to the majority anti-Syrian parliamentary bloc of Hariri's son, Saad al-Hariri, that controls the government.

The bloc accused Syria of involvement in the attack and said it was in response to the establishment of a UN court to try suspects in political killings. A UN Security Council resolution setting up the tribunal went into effect on June 10.

No immediate comment was available from Syria.

''Terrorism of Syrian regime challenges the court: Walid Eido martyred,'' said the front-page headline of the daily al-Mustaqbal newspaper. The an-Nahar newspaper also described Eido as a martyr.

BOMBS Five less powerful bombs have exploded in and around Beirut in the past month, killing two people.

Eido's death was likely to fuel tension between the government and the pro-Syrian opposition led by the Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah group, which has condemned the killing.

The United States, France, Britain, the European Union and the United Nations joined in condemnations of the attack.

''There has been a clear pattern of assassinations and attempted assassinations in Lebanon since October 2004,'' said US President George W Bush.

''Those working for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon have always been the ones targeted. The United States will continue to stand up for Lebanon, its people, and its legitimate government as they face these attacks,'' said Bush.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the government was asking the UN commission investigating Hariri's assassination to help with the inquiry into Eido's killing.

Siniora called on the Arab League to take action to protect Lebanon.

The UN Security Council, in a statement initiated by France, condemned ''any attempt to destabilise Lebanon through political assassination or other terrorist acts''.

Tension was already high in Lebanon before the attack.

The army has been battling al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in the north for more than three weeks.

Reuters SG DB1054