Beirut Bus Bombing

About an hour ago, a bomb hidden inside a passenger bus exploded in a suburb outside Beirut, injuring at least seven people. It could have been worse. The bomb detonated 15 minutes after the bus driver parked the vehicle for the night.

Since 2005, Lebanon has been plagued by a string of such attacks. Tonight's was similar to bus bombings in February blamed on Fatah al Islam, the terrorist group now battling the Lebanese army from its besieged base inside a Palestinian refugee camp outside Tripoli. Many Lebanese blame Syria for waging this terror campaign, and accuse Fatah al Islam of being a Syrian proxy. The attacks began with anti-Syrian politicians and journalists, and now appear to be targeting ordinary people in and around Beirut. Beirutis are resilient about about such things, but even they are avoiding large crowds and staying home at night. The feeling is this will continue as Fatah al Islam -- which is accused of being a Syrian proxy group -- becomes increasingly desperate.

--Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut