Anti-Syrian journalist injured in Beirut blast

(Reuters) BEIRUT - A prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese television journalist was seriously wounded yesterday when her car exploded north of Beirut, security sources and her LBC television channel said.
May Chidac, a Christian news anchor and familiar face to the Lebanese public, may lose her foot after the blast and bystanders found her with her hair and clothes on fire, an LBC colleague and medics said.A series of explosions has rocked Lebanon since the killing of former prime minister Rafik Al Hariri in February threw the country into its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. An anti-Syrian politician and columnist were assassinated in Lebanon earlier this year and an explosion wounded pro-Syrian defence minister Elias Murr in July.The latest attack comes as Lebanon awaits the outcome of a UN probe into the Hariri’s death and raised fears the country was sliding back into violence.
May Chidac, who is known through the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation for her courageous stance, was targeted by this explosion, her colleague Yazbeck Wehbe said from the scene of the blast in Ghazir.
People ran over when they heard the blast to find May's clothes and hair on fire, he said, adding that the blast had seriously injured her left foot and badly hurt her arms.Medics at the hospital where she was being treated said they were trying to save her foot.