Powerful Blast Hits Beirut Shopping Center

Powerful Explosion Rocks North Beirut Shopping Center; No Immediate Reports of Casualties

A powerful explosion rocked a shopping center in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut late Monday, injuring at least two people and causing extensive damage, security officials said.
Residents reached by telephone said black smoke was billowing into the night sky near a hotel. Ambulances and fire engines were headed to the scene.
Zalka, on the Mediterranean coast, is a mixed residential and commercial area on a main street that leads to Lebanon's Christian heartland. The area has several cafes including a Starbucks coffee shop and restaurants and other nightspots that would have been full of patrons...