A car bomb killed an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker and at least six other people in Beirut on Wednesday, just six days before parliament was due to elect a new president, security sources said.

The lawmaker, Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange party, was killed by the blast in a Christian district of the Lebanese capital. At least 19 other people were wounded by the bomb in the busy commercial and residential area of Sin el-Fil.

Several cars were set ablaze and rescue workers carried bodies from the scene in eastern Beirut.

Syria, the immediate suspect, rushed to condemn the assassination and deny its involvement in the blast...

Phalange MP Antoine Ghanem was assassinated today in Sin el Fil, just days before Parliament is set to elect a new Lebanese president.

The Syrians and their proxies have spoken: they will accept no president they do not appoint.

Should Phalange leader Amin Gemayel be elected president, he will suffer the same fate as his assassinated colleague, as his assassinated brother, and as Lebanese President Rene Muawad, who was assassinated shortly after his election in 1989...