Bombs Damage U.S. Chains in Lebanon
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP)--Small bombs exploded outside three American fast-food restaurants early Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties, police said.
The bombs blew out windows at the Pizza Hut and Winners restaurants just outside Jounieh, a coastal town about 13 miles north of Beirut, and at the Pizza Hut in the northern city of Tripoli, police officers said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Near Jounieh, about 1.1 pounds of TNT went off outside the Pizza Hut at 4:30 a.m. Thirty minutes later, another bomb of the same size exploded at Winners, about a half-mile away on the main north-south coastal highway.
In Tripoli, a third bomb exploded at the entrance of Pizza Hut at 4.30 a.m., blowing out windows and damaging tables and chairs, police said.
The three restaurants were closed at the time. Police are investigating the explosions and the motives were not immediately apparent.
There have been a string of low-level attacks on American fast-food restaurants in Lebanon this year. In September, a bomb exploded under a car parked outside a McDonald's restaurant in Jounieh. The explosion destroyed the car and damaged two other vehicles parked nearby. The McDonald's was closed at the time.
In May, a bomb exploded outside a building housing a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Hardee's in Tripoli. The blast caused extensive damage to both fast-food restaurants, but nobody was hurt as it was early morning.
In the earlier attacks, police investigated a possible link between the bombings and a campaign to boycott American products in retaliation for Washington's support for Israel.
AP-NY-11-12-02 0409EST
Copyright 2002, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
