Lebanese group Hezbollah says one of its top leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, has died in a bombing in Damascus, and has blamed Israel for assassinating him.Mughniyeh is widely believed to be behind a wave of Western hostage-taking in Lebanon in the 1980s.
Correspondents say he had been in hiding for years and was high on US and Israeli wanted lists.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the killing but some Israeli politicians welcomed news of his death.
Mughniyeh is variously described as special operations or intelligence chief of Hezbollah's secretive military wing.
Correspondents say his death is a significant blow to Hezbollah, which battled Israel in the 2006 Lebanon war, and its Iranian and Syrian backers.
Neighbourhood in shock
Syrian police kept media and other onlookers well away from the scene of the overnight blast in the well-to-do Kafar Soussa district.
Hours later, Syrian state TV confirmed one person had been killed in a car bombing, but did not identify the victim.
"Scores of police and intelligence officers rushed to the site. People in the neighbourhood are shocked," said one resident quoted by Reuters news agency.
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