A car bomb went off Tuesday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing at least two people and injuring caretaker Defense Minister Elias Murr, witnesses and security officials said.

Murr suffered facial burns after his motorcade was targeted in the Christian suburb of Antelias, north of Beirut, on a road he normally takes from his home to work.

Two unidentified person were killed in the blast and about 12 other were wounded, security officials said.

The wife of the Mexican ambassador to Lebanon was slightly wounded in the attack which occurred near the Mexican embassy, witnesses said.

The powerful explosion, which could be heard all around Beirut, created a 2-meter-wide crater in the pavement.

Televised pictures showed the wreckage of several cars with rescue workers taking away a covered victim by a stretcher.

Murr, the son-in-law of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahound, is also deputy prime minister. Lahound visited Murr in hospital.

It was the first bomb blast targeting pro-Syrian politician in a series of bombings and assassinations in Lebanon this year.

After former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a car bombing in February, anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated by a bomb placed in his car on June 2 and anti-Syrian politician George Hawi was killed in a similar way on June 21.

The attack came at a time when Lebanon's premier-designate Fuad Saniora was still struggling to form a national unity government after the opposition's victory in the recent parliamentary elections.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2005)