LEBANON - Feb 13 - Bomb Attacks Near Beirut Kill Three.

Three people died and 17 are injured when bombs rip through two crowded minibuses in the Christian heartland north of Beirut, the worst terrorist attack against civilians in Lebanon in recent years. The bombings exacerbated tensions ahead of a planned mass demonstration by supporters of the pro-western government to commemorate the second anniversary of the assassination of the former PM Rafiq Hariri. He died along with 20 others in a blast in the centre of Beirut. Walid Jumblat, the pro-government Druze leader, immediately linked the attacks to the demonstration. "It is to terrorise people who are willing to come to mark the second anniversary", he told al-Jazeera television. The commemoration takes place amid a power struggle between the ruling anti-Syrian coalition of the PM Fouad Siniora, and the opposition, led by the Syrian and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hizbullah movement. Hariri's son Saad, the leader of the Future movement, the largest bloc within the anti-Syrian coalition, called the attacks "cowardly". He said they underscored the need for an international tribunal to judge the suspects in his father's assassination. The UN-mandated tribunal has become a point of contention between the government and opposition. The UN Security Council strongly condemned the blasts. "The Security Council determines that this terrorist attack...represents a new pernicious attempt to undermine security and all the efforts aimed at preserving stability in the country". President Jacques Chirac of France was among international leaders who denounced the bombing: By striking on the eve of the commemoration of the attack that claimed the lives of Rafiq Hariri and his companions, these murderers are trying to plunge the whole of Lebanon back into violence". In another incident, bodyguards of the Sunni spiritual leader Shaikh Muhammad Kabbani scuffled with opposition supporters while he was visiting Hariri's grave in the centre of Beirut. Pro-government groups are to hold their demonstration next to the grave in the central Martyrs' Square. Metres away, and separated by barbed wire and fences, opposition activists have been camping in tents for the past 10 weeks in a protest aimed at bringing down the Siniora government. Hizbullah and its allies have reacted by stressing the importance of "an immediate solution" to Lebanon's political struggle. Tensions have erupted into violence several times since the opposition started its protests in December to topple the government. Recently seven people died in two days of clashes that started when the opposition called a general strike and blocked roads. Hizbullah accuses the government of being pro-American but many government supporters suspect that the group is trying to block the international tribunal. A UN investigation has implicated senior Syrian officials and has linked later attacks to the Hariri assassination. Damascus has denied involvement. Hariri's death raised pressure that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005 after a presence of nearly three decades. Lebanon has been rocked by a series of assassinations, starting before the murder of Hariri, with most targeting anti-Syrian politicians and journalists. But Feb 13 blasts were the first time that civilians have been so directly targeted.