Lebanon leader asks U.N. to help investigate blast

Lebanese civilians look at burning cars after an explosion in eastern Beirut September 19, 2007.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Lebanon's prime minister asked the United Nations to help the government investigate the assassination of an anti-Syrian parliamentarian and others killed by a car bomb on Wednesday.

Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange party and seven other people killed in Beirut in an attack his allies blamed on Damascus. Syria condemned the killing.

Ghanem was the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon since the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The United Nations has created a commission to investigate the deaths and both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council condemned the attack.

In a letter to Ban, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora requested technical assistance in the effort to investigate what he called "this horrific assassination."

Ban's legal counsel, Nicolas Michel, told reporters the Hariri commission would need Security Council authorization to render assistance in the Ghanem case. But he said that, based on past experience, this was likely to be provided soon.

Ghanem, 64, belonged to the anti-Syrian governing coalition which has been locked in a lengthy power struggle with factions backed by Damascus, including Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.

His death reduced the coalition to 68 seats in the 128-seat parliament -- only three more than an absolute majority of 65. The house had been expected to convene on Sept. 25 to elect a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

Ban said in a statement he was "shocked by the brutal assassination" of Ghanem and condemned "in the strongest terms this terrorist attack."

"Such acts of terrorism aim at undermining Lebanon's stability and are unacceptable," his spokeswoman Michele Montas said. "Lebanon has suffered far too many such attempts."

For the Security Council, French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said its 15 members condemned "this bombing, along with every attempt to destabilize Lebanon, especially during this crucial period."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said: "We think it is very important that there is no impunity for a political assassination" as a deterrence against further such acts, "and we want those who are responsible to be brought to justice."

The United Nations and Lebanese government agreed last year that a special tribunal would try Hariri's suspected killers.

The Netherlands has agreed to host the court, which the Security Council unilaterally approved in May after Lebanese anti-government parliamentarians refused to let the legislature convene to endorse the Beirut government's request.

Khalilzad said the United States would make a "significant contribution" to help fund the tribunal, whose first-year costs have been put at $35 million. He gave no figure.