DHAKA: Two explosions targeting the Iranian embassy have hit the Lebanese capital Beirut, security sources said, killing up to 23 people, injuring at least 146 and damaging buildings in the embassy compound.

Lebanese sources told Al Jazeera that the Iranian ambassador is safe, but the cultural attache of the embassy, Ebrahim Ansari, has been confirmed dead.

It is unclear where he was when he was killed, as Iranian sources have said that all other embassy staff are safe.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts.

A security source said the blasts were caused by two rockets fired on the area, in the southern part of the city, but a second security source said there was a car bomb explosion.

An armed guard of the Iranian embassy reportedly told media that the first blast was believed to have been carried out by a suicide attacker who rode a motorcycle and blew himself outside the gate.

The other explosion, that caused much more damage, was a car bomb, the guard said.

‘The sheer scale of the destruction is an indication as to how powerful the explosives were,’ said Al Jazeera, ‘with over five buildings damaged by the blasts’.

BDST: 1614 HRS, NOV 19, 2013
RoR/BSK