Shock at murder of Gebran Tueni, parliamentarian and owner of An-Nahar daily

Reporters Without Borders said it was deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of Gebran Tueni, the CEO of the Arabic-language daily An-Nahar and a member of the Lebanese parliament, in a car-bomb explosion today in Beirut. “The murderers seem to stop at nothing,” the press freedom organisation said. “The loss of another of Lebanon's leading journalists follows Samir Kassir's death in a car-bombing in June and the maiming of May Chidiac in a bombing in September. We join Tueni's family and the staff of An-Nahar in voicing our grief and anger. We will keep pressing for the truth about this murder until those responsible are identified and punished.” Reporters Without Borders added: “While we hail the United Nations' efforts to curb the violence in Lebanon, we think it now may be necessary to go further and establish an international commission of enquiry into all the bombings and attacks that have targeted politicians and journalists. If nothing is done, more are bound to follow. Today's bombing seems to be provocation, coming as it does on the eve of the presentation of a new interim report by Mehlis commission in New York.” Police said at least four people were killed and ten others wounded, two them seriously, in today's bombing in Mansourieh, a Christian suburb of Beirut, in which Tueni was clearly the target. A police officer said that a “red car parked at the side of a road in the locality of Mekalis exploded, sending a car into a ravine and causing it to catch fire.” Tueni was elected as a parliamentary representative for Beirut in June.