BEIRUT, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb went off Friday in the east of Lebanese capital Beirut, killing at least eight people and injuring 70 others, a medical source told Xinhua.
The car was parked outside a residential building near Sassin square in the capital when the bomb exploded, the source said.
The police has evacuated the residential building and medics have rushed to the scene to rescue the many injured, the source added.
Fire flames were seen burning in the blast zone and glass splinters were seen scattered on the ground, apparently from the shattered window panes of some nearby residential and commercial buildings.
The explosion, the first of its kind in Beirut since 2008, came amid high tensions and rifts in Lebanon's politics as a result of the conflict in neighboring Syria.
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