Lebanese Christian politician killed

Beirut (Lebanon): Lebanese Cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel – a key member of the anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanese parliament has been shot dead in an assassination that raises tensions between opponents and allies of Syria.

Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister and a member of the Phalange Party, had just left a church and was driving through a Christian neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday when at least one vehicle rammed his car, security officials said.

Three gunmen then shot Gemayel at point-blank range with automatic weapons, security officials said.

Gemayel, who was in his 30s, was said to have been hit at least twice in the head and neck. He was taken to a hospital where he later died. Lebanese television broadcast video of the bullet-riddled car.

Gemayel was a member of a prominent Christian political family in Lebanon.

His grandfather founded the Christian Phalange party; his father, Amin Gemayel, was president of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988; and an uncle, Bashir Gemayel, was elected president but was assassinated before he could take office in 1982.

Saad Hariri, whose father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in 2005, immediately blamed Syria, saying, "the hands of Syria are all over the place" because the Syrians want to stop the Lebanese government from approving a United Nations tribunal to prosecute those responsible for his father's assassination.

US President George W Bush denounced the killing, saying that Syria and Iran were trying to undermine the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

"We support the Saniora government and its democracy and we support the Lebanese people's desire to live in peace," Bush said while visiting US troops in Honolulu, AP said. "And we support their efforts to defend their democracy against attempts by Syria, Iran and allies to foment instability and violence in that important country."

Bush stopped short of blaming Iran or Syria, calling for a full investigation to identify "those people and those forces" behind the killing.

Other Lebanese leaders, including Gemayel's father, called for calm.

Amin Gemayel, the father of Pierre and a former president of Lebanon, said, "We don't want reactions, we don't want vengeance."

He said his son had been "martyred" for the cause of freedom in Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, in a televised address to the nation, also called Pierre Gemayel a "martyr for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon."

He vowed: "We will not let criminals dictate the future of Lebanon" and said the killing of Gemayel "makes us more committed to the international tribunal which is a deterrent to the criminals."

Television footage showed hundreds of angry and weeping family members and supporters gathering at the hospital where Gemayel died.

Walid Jumblatt, the Lebanese Druse leader, also appealed for Lebanese to control their emotions, but he vowed, "The international tribunal is coming."