DHAKA: A car bomb has exploded in northeastern Lebanon, killing four people and wounding 26 others.

The bomb went off near a local government building in the centre of Hermel, a town at the northern end of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in a predominantly Shia Muslim area, shattering windows and damaging nearby buildings.

The town is located just across the Syrian border from Qusair, where Hezbollah fighters helped Syrian forces reclaim control from rebels last June.

A Reuters photographer said he saw body parts strewn across the street and people with shrapnel wounds in the area of the blast, reports Voice of America.

Hospitals were calling on people to give blood, the photographer said.

BDST: 1612 HRS, JAN 16, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor