Mikati: government on alert after Beirut blast kills 3

Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government was on alert to determine the circumstances behind the bomb attack Friday that killed three people and wounded dozens others in the crowded beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh. "All government security and judicial agencies are on alert to uncover the circumstances behind the Ashrafieh explosion, pursue the perpetrators and punish them and to prevent the return to the spate of explosions in Lebanon,” a statement from Mikati's office said. The statement said Mikati telephoned Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, who was at the scene of the blast, to get a first-hand account of the explosion. The statement said the prime minister contacted senior police and army generals for a follow-up on the investigation. The Daily Star