Bikfaya blasts: side notes

Three people were killed on Tuesday morning when two explosive devices blasted through two vans travelling in the village of 'Ayn Alaq, near Bikfaya, in the Metn region. According to official sources quoted by Naharnet, the second explosion occurred a few minutes after the first one, as people were rushing to the blast scene.

The unverified rumour that the death toll amounted to twelve victims was spread by major newscasts for hours before a statement of the Lebanese Red Cross set the bar at three. While special correspondents were busy sticking each other with their umbrellas, interviewing MP Hagop Pakradounian and repeating over and over the same two lines, an embarrassing scene was broadcast live on several channels. Groups of onlookers were tampering the crime scene, walking, talking and even touching the burnt wrecks. It was appalling to see how the area was not really cordoned off. Maybe an "international tribunal" will sort out the proper evidence, anyway.
Talking of "evidence", Walid Jumblatt was predictably ready to point the finger against Syria. Asked by a journalist of Al Jazeera International if he had any evidence to back his claim that Syria was the author of the twin blasts, Jumblatt replied that this was "so evident it doesn't need evidences". That reminded me some notorious George W Bush tautologies.