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Lebanon to bury slain lawmaker

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BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanon prepared to bury anti-Syrian parliament member Walid Eido on Thursday, a day after a bomb killed him and nine others in Beirut.

His son Khalid and two bodyguards were among the dead, Lebanese media reports said.

Eleven others were wounded in the explosion, believed to be from a car bomb, in the seaside neighborhood of Manara, according to Lebanese security sources.

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

Some are calling the attack an assassination and pointing the finger at Syria.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, an outspoken critic of Syria, called the attack an attempt by Damascus to reduce the anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanese government.

"With this bunch of assassins in Damascus, they don't care about international justice," Jumblatt told CNN International. (Watch the destruction that Jumblatt blames on Syria )

Eido, a constitutional expert, was a member of a political bloc led by Saad Hariri, the son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose assassination two years ago sparked widespread protests that led to the ouster of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

"The hands that assassinated Rafik Hariri and the other freedom martyrs are the same evil hands and the same evil apparatuses that committed this crime today and assassinated Walid Eido," Saad Hariri said.

"They don't want Lebanon to settle down and the government to rise and the military to defend the sovereignty of this country."

President Bush said: "There has been a clear pattern of assassinations and attempted assassinations in Lebanon since October 2004.

"Those working for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon have always been the ones targeted. The victims have always been those who sought an end to Syrian President Assad's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs."

Eido was a vocal supporter of the United Nations tribunal investigating Rafik Hariri's killing. The U.N. Security Council approved the tribunal earlier this month.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon issued a statement Tuesday calling Eido's killing "a heinous crime aimed at destabilizing Lebanon."

U.N. investigators concluded last year that Hariri's death may be linked to high-ranking Syrian officials. Syria has denied any involvement in the assassination and said the tribunal is a violation of its sovereignty.

Since Hariri's February 2005 killing, several other anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians have been assassinated.

Vehicles engulfed in flames

The impact of Wednesday's blast shattered the windows of nearby buildings, while bystanders sustained injuries from the shrapnel. CNN's Brent Sadler witnessed wounded people being carried out of one building.

The blast happened near a military sports club and a side street that leads to several restaurants. Sadler said two vehicles were engulfed in flames, and the explosion had all the hallmarks of a bombing attack.

Many of the off-duty soldiers, still wearing their workout clothes, rushed to the scene trying to calm people down. Video footage also showed Lebanese forces trying to control the crowds.

As many as six explosions, many in the capital city, have rocked parts of Lebanon over the past month.

Last week, a large explosion struck Zouk Mosbeh, a predominantly Christian neighborhood north of Beirut, killing one person and wounding four.

Sadler said he felt the blast during an interview with a shopkeeper. They were discussing when the next bomb could strike Beirut.

"The Lebanese man I've known for a long, long time said, 'Look, I think one could happen at any moment,' " Sadler said. "He said those very words when that explosion really shook his shop."

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