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Syria 'bomb kills militant chief' Syria 'bomb kills militant chief'
(10 minutes later)
The Lebanese group, Hezbollah, says one of its leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, has been killed in a bomb blast in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Lebanese group Hezbollah says one of its leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, has been killed in a bombing in Damascus, and blamed Israel for assassinating him.
Hezbollah has said Israel was behind the attack. Correspondents say he was high on the list of people wanted by Israel.
Mughniyeh is widely believed to be behind a wave of Western hostage-taking in Lebanon in the 1980s.Mughniyeh is widely believed to be behind a wave of Western hostage-taking in Lebanon in the 1980s.
There has been no word about the incident from the Israeli government. Correspondents say he had been in hiding for years and was high on US and Israeli wanted lists.
There has been not been any word about the incident from either the Syrian or Israeli governments.
Syrian police kept media and other onlookers well away from the scene of the blast in the well-to-do Kafar Soussa district.
"Scores of police and intelligence officers rushed to the site. People in the neighbourhood are shocked. We are not used to such things in Syria," said one resident quoted by Reuters news agency.
"We saw security officers hauling the body away," said one witnesses quoted by Reuters news agency.
Damascus has witnessed a number of bomb attacks in recent years, some blamed on Israel and others on Islamic militants.
Mughniyeh was among several suspects indicted in the US for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a US Navy diver was killed.
Hezbollah-owned Manar TV in Beirut announced the death saying: "With all pride we declare a great jihadist leader of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon joining the martyrs... the brother commander hajj Imad Mughinyeh".