BEIRUT, Sept 19: A powerful bomb killed a pro-government lawmaker and six others on Wednesday in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut, threatening to derail parliament’s already deeply divided effort to elect Lebanon’s next president in voting due to start in days.

Antoine Ghanem, a 64-year-old member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party, was the eighth anti-Syrian figure and fourth lawmaker from the majority assassinated since 2005, reducing the ruling coalition’s margin in parliament.

Members of the coalition held Syria responsible for Ghanem’s death, which came only two days after he returned to Lebanon from abroad. Damascus denied the accusations of involvement.

Security officials said at least 22 people were wounded in Wednesday’s blast, which occurred at rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil district. The explosion severely damaged nearby buildings, set several cars on fire and left the street littered with blood and debris. Bystanders watched in shock as ambulances and civil defence workers searched for victims.

Explosive experts were seen sifting through the engine of Ghanem’s car, which was blown at least 50 meters (165 feet) by the force of the explosion. A security official said the bomb was likely detonated by remote control near Ghanem’s car.

“I have never seen a more cowardly regime than that of Bashar Assad’s,’’ said lawmaker Saad Hariri, blaming the Syrian president for Ghanem’s death. Hariri heads the anti-Syrian majority in the parliament, a role he stepped into after his father, Rafik Hariri, was killed by car bomb in 2005.—AP