Syria has said that the killing of an outspoken critic of the country, Gebran Tueni, in Beirut this morning was timed to smear Damascus.
Mr Tueni, a journalist and member of parliament, died in a car bomb attack in east Beirut this morning in which three others were killed and ten others wounded, two of them seriously.
Several other cars were set ablaze and nearby shops and buildings suffered some damage.
Police and soldiers cordoned off the area as rescue workers sent casualties to hospitals.
Mr Tueni had spent most of the past few months in Paris because he believed the Syrian secret service was trying to kill him.
He reportedly only returned to Beirut yesterday evening.
For its part, Syria has denied any involvement in today's killing. But many in Beirut, such as veteran Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, remain unconvinced.
Lebanon has been rocked by a series of bombings and assassinations since the killing of the former Prime Minister, Rafik al-Hariri, on 14 February.
Today's blast came just hours before the UN Security Council was due to receive a report on the killing. The report has already been handed over to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
No official details have been released but the report is said to detail Syria's alleged role in the murder.
The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, repeated yesterday that he would punish any Syrian involved in the assassination plot.
An earlier interim UN report has already implicated senior Syrian and Lebanese officials in the killing.
