BEIRUT, Nov 19: A double suicide bombing outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut killed at least 23 people on Tuesday, in an attack claimed by an Al Qaeda-linked group.

The army said a motorcyclist blew himself up moments before a suicide bomber driving a four-wheel-drive detonated his payload in the southern Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah, an ally of both Iran and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The mid-morning attack, which the health ministry said also wounded 146 people, was the first time the Iranian mission had been targeted.

The blasts ripped the facades off surrounding buildings, strewing rubble and glass on streets that were stained with blood.

Residents walked dazed past charred cars and trees, as soldiers and Hezbollah security men tried to secure the area.

The attack follows two other bombings this year in Hezbollah bastions in Beirut, amid rising tensions over the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

Iran is one of Syria’s closest allies, and is the key sponsor of Hezbollah, a powerful movement that has dispatched thousands of fighters to bolster the regime in the 32-month uprising.

The blasts were claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a jihadi group linked to Al Qaeda that has previously fired rockets at Israel from Lebanese territory.

“This is a double martyrdom operation carried out by two heroes from … Lebanon,” Sirajeddin Zreikat, a member of the group, wrote on Twitter.

Syrian state television said the “government firmly condemned the terrorist attack carried out near the Iranian embassy in Beirut”. It said an “odour of petrodollars comes from all the terrorist acts against Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.”

Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham accused Israel and its “mercenaries” of responsibility.

Israel immediately denied involvement.

Speaking in Rome, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said “the tragedy today... should be an alarm for all of us that we need to deal with and unless we deal with it seriously, it will engulf all of us.”

Asked about Afkham’s claim about Israel, he said “we have reason to be suspicious of every move they make”.

For his part, a Hezbollah MP blamed a “western-Israeli alliance” and regional powers that back radical ‘Sunni takfiri’ groups for the attacks.

“The aim (of the attacks) is to advance the programme of murder, sabotage and chaos, threatening national unity and targeting stability,” said Mohammad Raad.

“The programme is being followed by a western-Israeli alliance, whose interests intersect with those of regional powers and takfiri groups,” he added, referring to radical Sunni extremists.

Britain and France issued swift statements of condemnation, and UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged restraint.

The army confirmed the double suicide bombing, saying “the first explosion was caused by a suicide attacker who was driving a motorcycle and blew himself up. The second suicide attacker was driving a 4x4 vehicle and also detonated himself.”

Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi said all staff inside the embassy at the time escaped unharmed.

But officials in Tehran said the cultural adviser, Ibrahim al-Ansari, was in critical condition after the blast.

By early evening, a medical official confirmed Ansari had died of his injuries.

Coincidentally, Lebanon and Iran’s football teams were due to play in Beirut on Tuesday, and the match went ahead, but with fans banned from attending.—AFP