A Lebanese army soldier passes next to a burned car at the site of an explosion in a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014. A car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood in southern Beirut on Tuesday, killing several people and setting plumes of smoke over the area in the latest attack targeting supporters of the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
January 21, 2014 - 1:28 AM
BEIRUT - Lebanese security officials say an explosion has hit a Shiite-dominated neighbourhood in southern Beirut, setting fire to a building and sending plumes of smoke over the area.
The officials say Tuesday's blast in Haret Hreik district took place meters (yards) away from where a car bomb struck earlier this month, killing five people.
The officials say it was not immediately clear what caused the explosion nor if there are any casualties.
The Lebanese television station al-Manar is broadcasting footage from the blast site, showing hundreds of people flocking to the area as ambulances rush to the location.
The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Shiites in Lebanon, apparently in retaliation for the militant Hezbollah group's fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad's troops.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014