BEIRUT, Feb 15 (AFP) - Lebanon said on Tuesday that former prime minister Rafiq Hariri was almost certainly killed in a suicide car bombing and ruled out an international probe into his death.
"The security services are almost sure that it was a suicide car bomb. It is not an official announcement but it is almost sure," Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh Franjieh told a press conference.
But he said there was no question of an international investigation as called for by Lebanon's former colonial rulers France, among others. Monday's attack killed 14 people in addition to Hariri and wounded about 100 more.
"An international inquiry is unacceptable. Investigators will, if necessary, call upon experts from neutral countries," he said.
Franjieh said investigators were still looking for concrete evidence on the attack, adding that human remains found at the scene would be tested for DNA.
"The vehicle was not parked along the side of the road. The crater dug by the explosion was in the middle of the road. So the vehicle was alongside (Hariri's) convoy and could have tried to ram into it.
"It is possible that it was a suicide bomber who was driving it," he said.
A previously unknown Islamist group claimed it was behind the attack, in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television on Monday.
An-Nosra wal Jihad fi Bilad al-Sham (Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria) said it carried out what it called a suicide attack because of Hariri's close ties with the Saudi regime, but it provided no proof of the claim.
Hariri, a self-made billionaire, had close business ties with the Saudi royal family and was a frequent visitor to the oil-rich Gulf state which has been a key financial backer of Lebanon.
02/15/2005 14:57 GMT - AFP