Six killed in Beirut car bomb

A powerful explosion in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut - stronghold of the Shia armed group  Hezbollah - has killed at least six people and left another 66 wounded.

The car bombing occurred during Thursday's rush hour in the city's Haret Hreik neighbourhood, but casualty figures were expected rise given the size and the timing.

Lebanon has been hit by a wave of bombings in recent months as the civil war in Syria increasingly spills over into its smaller neighbour.

Images broadcast on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV showed smoke billowing at the site of the blast, and firefighters putting out several cars that were ablaze.

The footage showed at least one building that had its facade blown off, and several neighbouring buildings were also damaged.

Beirut has recently been hit by attacks linked to heightened Sunni-Shia tensions over the Syrian war.

Former minister Mohamad Chatah, a Sunni and a critic of Hezbollah, was killed by a car bomb last Friday. Six other people died and at least 50 were injured.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to whom Chatah was an adviser, blamed Hezbollah for that attack but it has denied any involvement.

The UN Security Council issued a statement condemning the bombing, calling for national unity and urging all Lebanese parties "to respect Lebanon's policy of disassociation and to refrain from any involvement in the Syrian crisis".

Hezbollah has sent fighters to Syria to help President Assad in the war against Sunni-led rebels there. President Assad comes from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam, while many Lebanese Sunnis sympathise with the Syrian rebels.

Lebanese politicians also spoke out against the bombing.

Hariri described it as a "diabolical act", while caretaker Prime Minister Najob Mikati said terrorists "were planning a despicable conspiracy to drown the Lebanese in sectarian strife".

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem called for calm, and for the formation of a new government.

"Lebanon is on the road to ruin if there is no political understanding," he told al-Manar.

Lebanon has been without a government since the resignation of Mr Mikati's administration in April 2013.