LEBANON - Jan. 24 - Hobeika Killed.

Elie Hobeika, a 45-year-old former Christian warlord who was commander of forces that slaughtered hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in 1982, three of his bodyguards and two other people are killed in an explosion as they drove away from his apartment in Beirut's eastern Hazmieh neighbourhood. Several people are wounded by the bomb. Prosecutor Nasri Lahoud says the bomb was apparently been placed in a parked vehicle and detonated remotely. No one took responsibility for the bomb, but Lahoud accused Israel of assassinating the former militia commander to prevent him from testifying in a Belgian court that is considering whether to try PM Sharon on war crimes charges in connection with the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Lahoud added: "Israel is responsible for this". Sharon spokesman called the allegation "rubbish". (Israel has used cross-border assassination before, in a 1992 rocket attack, for example, that killed Hizbollah secretary-general, and in a botched 1998 attempt in Jordan to poison a local representative of Hamas. In 1982, members of the Lebanese Forces militia under Hobeika's command swept through the Sabra and Shatila camps and killed around 800 Palestinian refugees on the outskirts of Beirut. The killings took place under the eye of invading Israeli troops with whom Hobeika and the Lebanese Forces were allied. An Israeli commission later found Sharon indirectly responsible for the massacre, forcing him to resign as defence minister. Now Sharon is facing possible trial in Belgium for the killings, in a case brought under Belgian laws that allow for the local prosecution of war crimes regardless of where they are committed. Hobeika last summer promised publicly to testify at the proceedings, and said he would offer evidence to clear his name, and presumably implicate the Israelis more deeply. According to press accounts, Hobeika met with Belgian officials this week to discuss his possible testimony. The Belgian court is scheduled to rule on March 6 on whether Sharon will stand trial).