Lebanese Primer Minister Omar Karami on Tuesday announced that he would resign on Wednesday because his effort to re-form a national unity cabinet failed.

Karami made the remarks after meeting with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, saying he could not see any positive signal after talks with the opposition in the country.

"They (the opposition parties) refused to assume their responsibilities within the government of national unity," Karami said, adding he would submit the resignation to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Wednesday.

The national unity government should take the responsibility to probe into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and observe the parliamentary elections due by the end of May, Karami insisted.

Karami, who was reappointed as the prime minister at March 10after resigned on Feb. 28 under big pressures from the opposition, insists on forming a national unity government.

But opposition figures have refused to join Karami's proposed national unity government, calling for the swift formation of a "neutral" interim government composed of people "who enjoy public confidence" to see the country through to parliamentary elections.

Lebanon has plunged into a political turbulence since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14,which the opposition has said the Syria-backed authorities should be responsible for.

More than 10 people were injured when a car bomb explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut on Saturday, which came after two other bomb attacks in Lebanon in earlier days, during which two people were killed and more than 10 injured.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2005)