An huge bombing rocked central Beirut on Friday morning killing former Lebanese Finance Minister and senior adviser to former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, Mohamed Chatah, and four others who accompanied him.
Seventy people were injured in the attack, according to the Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil. He added the number of injuries were likely to increase.
Khalil denounced the attack saying it targeted the stability of his country and called to speed up with the formation of a national unity government to face the terrorism which strikes the unity of Lebanon.
The Lebanese Future TV network reported that the terrorist planted a car bomb targeting Chatah's parade and his assistant near Hariri's house and the Lebanese Cabinet headquarters.
Before his assassination, Chatah had criticized Hezbollah's policies on his Twitter account.
"[Hezbollah is] pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security and foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 years," Chatah wrote.
He added: "The state gives up its sovereign role and decision in security and foreign policy."
Chatah was member of the March 14 Movement. He was born in 1951 in Tripoli and was married with had two children.
Chatah received a BA in economics from the American University in Beirut in 1974, and PhD in economics from the University of Texas in the United States in 1983.
Chatah worked for the International Monetary Fund in the United States between 1983 and 2005, during which he held various positions, including advisor to the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Middle East, and Deputy Executive Director.
Chatah served as deputy governor of the Bank of Lebanon from 1993 to 1997 and later became ambassador to Lebanon in Washington until 1999. He served as senior adviser to former Prime Minister Hariri since 2005 .
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
