You may remember earlier in the week when a bomb went off, triggering quite a bit of anxiety about the possiblity of another civil war and the influence of Syrian intelligence. Another one just went off. It took me awhile to find a good article that wasn’t full of “Hizb’allah rules; American drools” filler info.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Three people were killed and five wounded early on Wednesday when a bomb exploded at a shopping center in a Christian town north of the Lebanese capital Beirut, police sources and local television said.

The explosion, the second in a commercial Christian area in five days, fueled growing concerns that a deepening political crisis following the assassination of a former prime minister last month could plunge the country into chaos.

The roof of the center in the coastal town of Kaslik, 12 miles north of Beirut, had collapsed and emergency services workers searched through the rubble for other victims.

Windows of nearby buildings were shattered and broken glass littered nearby streets.

Investigators were quickly on the scene. Police sources said indications were that the blast was caused by an explosive charge placed inside the multi-storey center which had been closed.

It was not clear who the casualties were, but rescue workers speculated most were either guards or foreign cleaning staff at the building. The toll would have been much worse if the blast had taken place in daytime at the usually crowded street.

“It is clear that those who carried out this attack are targeting the security and stability of the country,” opposition parliament member Faris Bouez told reporters at the scene. “It is a political message to the (anti-Syrian) independence uprising.”

In the previous incident, a car bomb exploded in a Christian suburb of Beirut early on Saturday, wounding 11 people.

The explosion at around 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. EST) came amid acute political tension since the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in another bombing. The assassination triggered a wave of anti-Syrian protests.

International pressure forced Syria to announce a troop withdrawal from Lebanon. It has already cut the number of its forces in its neighbor and a timetable for a complete pullout would be agreed in early April.

“The aim is chaos … The country is the target,” another Christian opposition parliamentarian, Ghanem al-Boun, said in Kaslik.

Already, here is a reaction from Raja Abu Hassan:

Events on the ground are proving that the Syrians have not left Lebanon. They have withdrawn some of their troops and ostensibly closed their “intelligence offices” in Beirut and a few towns, but they still control Lebanon.

I have arrived at a conclusion: Everytime Lahoud “releases a statement,” I will ignore that it came from that excuse for a president; and tell myself that it was released direct from Damascus. Lahoud is nothing but the face of the Syrian apparatus in Lebanon. Until Lebanon is clensed from both him and that apparatus, I will not consider my country liberated.

The Lebanese Blogger Forum has more as well:

Al Jazeera interviewed some people saying two Indian workers were killed from what appears to have been a 70 KG bomb. The amount of deaths and injuries are not confirmed yet. The numbers I’ve heard range from 2-4 killed and 8-11 injured. It happened in a predominantly Christian neighborhood Kaslik in the port town of Jounieh at 130am. I know the place well. This is the second Christian neighborhood that has been bombed in the past week. It doesn’t bode well for Lebanon just as Kofi Annan says he’s secured an agreement from Assad to pull his troops and intelligence services from Lebanon after a timetable is given by early April.

I’m much more upset than I appear. I’m trying to keep a lid on it for now. I hope the truth comes out. Because this is no way to live. We cannot, I repeat, we cannot let the old divisions rise again. As soon as it becomes a tit for tat circumstance, we have all lost. I call for calm. I call for peace. For the sake of Lebanon…

I’m sure there will be more as the day there progresses. Last time Ziad Zacca had pictures of the devasted area.

I’m going to bed, so more on this — and Lebanon in general — tomorrow. It must be noted that all of the “car bombs” so far have not actually been car bombs, but seem to have originated from under the cars. One of the theories floated is that it they are planted in the water drainage areas, or that there are possibly tunnels under the road. If that is indeed the case, and given that these are time activated bombs, Syria does not even have to be directly present to set them off. Let’s hope that this is not what is happening.

BOMB DETAILS:

The bomb, planted under the stairway entrance to the Alta Vista mall, exploded at 1:30 a.m. Police believe the bomb was at least 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives. The center was closed at the time of the blast. Otherwise, a public atrocity would have happened.

There is a big difference between what happened years ago and what is happening now — everyone knows it is the Syrian intelligence doing this.

UPDATE: Ziad has photos up.