They said George Hawi, former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party, died instantly in the blast in the Wata Musaitbi neighborhood of Beirut.

It was the second killing of an anti-Syrian figure in Beirut this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 when a similar explosion destroyed his car.

Hawi's killing came two days after the end of Lebanon's parliamentary elections which were won by an Ex-pro-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri, son of a slain former prime minister.

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The United States has angrily linked Syria's "long and continued presence" in Lebanon to George Hawi's assassination and demanded a formal investigation into his death.
Hawi's death in a Beirut bomb blast followed the slayings of former premier Rafik Hariri in February and of An Nahar's anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir early this month.

"These are not random killings, these are targeted assassination of political figures," charged White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

"It is clearly an attempt to intimidate the people of Lebanon and to undermine progress toward a free and democratic future."

While he did not explicitly blame Syria, McClellan said that "Syria's long and continued presence inside Lebanon has created an environment of intimidation and political repression" and must end immediately.

He said Damascus must comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, stressing: "That means getting all their intelligence operatives out of Lebanon. The international community is not going to look the other way."

Britain's Foreign Office also asked Lebanese authorities Tuesday to "mount full, thorough, and transparent investigations" to bring Hawi's killers to justice.

"We urge the Lebanese authorities to mount full, thorough, and transparent investigations to bring those responsible to justice," it said.

"The British Government condemns the murder of George Hawi, and that of the journalist Samir Kassir on 2 June," said the Foreign Office's junior minister Kim Howells in a statement.