A huge bomb explosion has rocked an industrial area in a mainly Christian neighbourhood in east Beirut, killing two people and injuring eight others.

Saturday's was the third blast in a Christian district in a week and is certain to heighten fears of renewed communal strife at a moment when Lebanon is politically paralysed.

A police officer said the mid-evening blast was caused by a car bomb near the district of Dikuana. He said it set several buildings ablaze and did extensive material damage.

For the second time in seven days Indian workers accounted for the fatalities, according to the official news agency ANI, which said eight people were hurt, including a Sri Lankan.

The scene was described by one witness as "an apocalyptic sight", as fire engines and ambulances rushed to the scene under a huge cloud of black smoke.

Beirut has been jittery since 11 people were injured when a bomb exploded beneath a car in the Christian suburb of Jadida on 19 March, an attack that was followed by another bomb blast in Kaslik on Wednesday that killed three people.

Damages

Damages caused by Saturday's explosion were bigger than those caused by the two previous explosions, said head of Aljazeera's office in Beirut, Ghassan bin Jiddo. However, the latest explosive device weighed less than the two others, he added.

Experts said the bomb of the first explosion weighed about 70kg, while the second bomb in New Jadaida area weighed around 20kg.

The latest explosive device weighed about 22kg but caused bigger damages as it targeted the industrial area and was planted very professionally under the building, said bin Jiddo.

When fire erupted in the building, it moved to two other nearby buildings. All three damaged buildings were factories.

Aljazeera threatened

Meanwhile, Aljazeera's office in Lebanon was threatened by an unidentified caller.

The Saturday evening phone call warned that the central Beirut office would be bombed if the television channel did not stop its coverage of the recent explosions in Beirut.

The building housing the bureau also has offices of other Arab and foreign media organisations. It faces a government building.

While security around the Aljazeera office has been tightened, an army officer said security forces receive around 20-25  phone calls a day warning them of bombs. Some are false alarms and others are real as some bombs have been diffused, the officer said.

Aljazeera also learned that a bomb was diffused recently in the Hiraik neighbourhood of southern Beirut. However, this information has not yet been confirmed.

Syria accused

The previous two explosions were blamed by the Lebanese opposition on Syrian-backed Lebanese security agents.

The opposition alleges the agents are determined to stir up sectarian strife at a time when Lebanon is without a permanent government, and Syrian troops are withdrawing under intense international pressure.

"It's a provocation against civil peace," said opposition leader Walid Jumblatt of the latest incident, the third since the 14 February assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

"A new leadership is absolutely necessary to take matters in hand. The current leadership, which is collapsing, is trying to defend itself by terrorist means," Jumblatt charged.

Another opposition figure, Walid Aido, accused Lebanese security services and said they represented a "criminal intent to plunge the country into chaos - politically, economically and with regard to security".

The opposition has also accused Lebanese and Syrian intelligence agents in the attack on al-Hariri.

Al-Hariri assassination

However, Lebanese and Syrian authorities deny all the allegations.

Al-Hariri's death galvanised momentum in a campaign to pressure Syria into withdrawing the estimated 14,000 troops stationed in Lebanon.

As a result, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad has begun withdrawing his troops, 4000 to 5000 of whom have already returned to Syria, in accordance with a United Nations Security Council resolution.

The assassination also forced the resignation on 28 February of Prime Minister Umar Karami in the face of public fury and after several huge demonstrations.

Karami was called back to the premiership by President Emile Lahud on 10 March, but so far has been unable to persuade opposition MPs to join him in a cabinet of national unity.

Lebanese authorities acceded to a key opposition demand on Saturday by agreeing to an international panel to determine who killed al-Hariri.

The decision followed the release of a harsh UN report that faulted Lebanese authorities for carrying out a grossly negligent investigation into the attack.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Lebanese soldier takes evidence at the site of the explosion in an industrial zone of the mainly Christian neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday March 27, 2005. (AP)