A car bomb has killed Lebanon's former ambassador to the United States, former finance minister Mohamad Chatah. At least four others were killed in the explosion and dozens wounded.

Black smoke billowed into the skies over the Lebanese capital, Beirut, following the blast in the historic city center.

Chatah, a Sunni Muslim, was a respected economist and senior advisor to ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The explosion, which targeted Chatah, occurred near the site of a 2005 blast that killed Hariri's father, Rafiq al-Hariri. Both blasts shattered windows and blew chunks of concrete from buildings within a wide radius.

Hariri indirectly accused the Shi'ite Hezbollah militia for the assassination. VOA