Blast targets bank in central Beirut, 2 injured

A bomb blast rocked the western part of the Lebanese capital on Sunday evening, lightly wounding two people, officials said.

Lebanese police chief General Ibrahim Basbous said an explosive device weighing approximately 15 kilograms had been placed in a plant pot against an exterior wall of the headquarters of Blom Bank in the Verdun business district.

Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq, in televised comments, said the bank had been the target of the explosion as the blast was "different" from other explosions that have occurred in Lebanon over the past few years.

Blom Bank director general Saad al-Azhari told reporters that he had no idea why the bank would be a target as no threats had been received by the bank

However, Alan Hakim, the minister of economy and trade told The New Arab that the timing of the blast indicates that "it is not a terrorist act, but a message to the banking sector".

Some banks in Lebanon, including Blom, have recently been shutting accounts linked to the Shia group Hizballah after the US issued new sanctions targeting the group's finances.

"The measures taken by the Lebanese Central Bank and other banks are irreversible, however there are groups that want take advantage of the situation to increase tensions in the country," said Hakim.

"We cannot accuse anyone of responsibility at this stage, but it is clear that there are those who want to increase the chasm between banks and some Lebanese groups".

The explosion took place just after dusk when the streets and surrounding office buildings were all but deserted for the Ramadan break fast.

Bank director Saad al-Azhari said he would wait for investigations to be completed before any judgments can be made over the reason for the blast.

Last November, twin bombings in the densely populated neighbourhood of Burj al-Barajneh killed 44 people. They were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

Burj al-Barajneh is in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the powerful Hizballah movement holds sway.

Last year's twin bombings came after a string of attacks in 2013 and 2014 targeting the group by Sunni extremist groups which cited Hizballah's military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.