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Iran embassy hit by deadly bomb blasts

23 die in al-Qaida-linked suicide attacks

At least 23 people were killed as two suicide bombers struck the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

Al-Qaida-linked Sunni group Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility, saying more attacks would follow unless Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah withdraws its fighters from neighbouring Syria.

The morning blasts hit the neighbourhood of Janah, a Hezbollah stronghold, leaving bodies and pools of blood on the glass-strewn street amid burning cars.

More than 140 people were wounded, officials said.

A Lebanese security official said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle with 4.4 pounds of explosives.

He blew himself up at the main gate of the embassy, damaging the three-floor building, the official said.

Less than two minutes later, a second suicide attacker blew up his car rigged with 110 pounds of explosives about 10 yards away.

Iran is a key Syrian government supporter in the Middle East, allegedly providing the Assad regime with financing and weapons.

Hezbollah fighters have been helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he fights rebels trying to topple his regime.

They appear to have helped the government regain the upper hand in the bloody conflict.

A Lebanese security official said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle that carried two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives. He blew himself up at the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-storey facility, the official said.

Hezbollah official Mahmoud Komati said attacks were a direct result of the "successive defeats suffered by (extremists) in Syria."

He vowed to keep standing by the Syrian government despite the "message of blood and death."

The Syrian government said: "Each of the terrorist attacks that strike in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reeks of petrodollars" - a clear reference to oil-rich Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have been backing the rebels.

Iranian cultural attache Sheik Ibrahim Ansari was among the dead.

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