700lb BOMB TEARS APART LEBANON PM MOTORCADE; CARNAGE RETURNS TO BEIRUT 10 die as blast leaves 30ft crater.

Byline: By Joseph Pannosian

LEBANON'S former prime minister and at least nine other people were killed when a bomb blew apart his motorcade yesterday.

Billionaire Rafik Hariri, who quit in October in a dispute over Syrian forces in the previously war-torn country, was dead on arrival at hospital in Beirut.

His death, in what one previously unknown militant group claimed was a suicide bombing, was last night feared to be the start of a new chapter of violence in Lebanon.

The 700lb bomb ripped apart the motorcade, despite all Hariri's cars being equipped with anti-explosive systems and blast-proofing.

A statement from a group calling itself Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon said the attack would be followed by more 'against infidels, renegades and tyrants'.

Hariri, who helped rebuild his country after the civil war which ended in 1990, was seen as a political buffer between the pro-Syria government and the fiercely anti-Syria opposition. Syria maintains about 15,000 troops in Lebanon.

The explosion blew a 30ft crater in Beirut's seafront road, wrecked the balconies of the world-famous St George Hotel and set at least 20 cars on fire.

One burning man struggled to get out of a car window and a bystander rushed to beat out the flames with his jacket.

Victims were seen lying in the street, their bodies still ablaze and their faces horribly disfigured.

Among the more than 100 wounded in the blast was pro-Hariri MP Bassel Fleihan, a former economy minister.

He was last night in intensive care in Beirut. But Hariri's television station, Future TV, said Fleihan was in critical condition and they were preparing to transfer him abroad.

Lebanon's Supreme Council for Defence - consisting of the president, ministers and the military - instructed the army and security forces to take 'all necessary measures' to control the situation.

They also declared three days of national mourning.

President Emile Lahoud, a long-time rival of Hariri, promised the bombers would be brought to justice and Syrian president Bashar Assad condemned the carnage.

But exiled ex-army commander General Michel Aoun blamed Syria and the 'feeble regime imposed by Syria' for Hariri's death.

He said: 'I think all these together are behind this crime.'

Hariri's supporters quickly took to the streets, chanting his praises outside the American University Hospital where he was declared dead.

In his hometown of Sidon, supporters blocked roads and burned tyres.

CAPTION(S):

DEVASTATION: Cars continue to burn alongside the giant crater left by the bomb on Beirut's seafront; ASSASSINATED: Rafik Hariri