The elder son and heir apparent of hardline Palestinian militant Mr Ahmad Jibril was killed today in a Beirut car-bombing which his group promptly blamed on Israel.
Mr Jihad Jibril, a senior leader in Lebanon of his father's Syrian-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), died when he started his car, detonating explosives under the seat, police said.
"Mossad managed this time to assassinate my son after having tried in vain four times to do it," Ahmad Jibril told reporters at his headquarters in Damascus, referring to the Israeli intelligence service, as he received condolences.
Another PFLP-GC official said: "the Zionist enemy is the first suspect and we are going to retaliate because they killed one of our military leaders."
But Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mr Emmanuel Nachshon dismissed the accusations as "utter nonsense".
AFP
