By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 12:22 EST, 2 January 2014 | UPDATED: 15:58 EST, 2 January 2014 At least five people have been killed during Beirut's rush hour today in a suspected car bomb as Syria’s civil war continues to spread to neighbouring Lebanon. The explosion rocked a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, setting cars ablaze and sending a column of black smoke above the city skyline. The nature of the explosion that hit the Haret Hreik neighbourhood was not immediately clear, but a Lebanese security official said it appeared to be caused by a car bomb.
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The explosion rocked the Shiite Hezbollah stronghold in the Lebanese city
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Twenty people were also wounded and cars were set on fire in the attack
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It comes a week after a car bombing killed a prominent Sunni politician
Shiite
Shiite
The attacks have targeted both Sunni and @placeholder neighbourhoods, further stoking sectarian tensions that are already running high because of the war next door.
Sunni
Tension builds: People gather at the bombing site which targeted both @placeholder and Shiite neighbourhoods stoking sectarian tensions that are already running high
Shiite
Shiite
Tension builds: People gather at the bombing site which targeted both Sunni and @placeholder neighbourhoods stoking sectarian tensions that are already running high
Lebanon
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Hezbollah security agents, as well as @placeholder troops, were trying to cordon off the area to keep the angry crowds away from the blast site.
Lebanon
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Car bomb catastrophe: @placeholder citizens gather at the scene of the December 27 bombing which went off a few hundred yards from government and parliament buildings
Beirut
Hezbollah's once seemingly impenetrable bastion of support - @placeholder's southern suburbs - also has been hit several times in recent months.