Beirut bloodshed deepens doubts over port blast probe

Army soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint a day after gunfire erupted in an attack on protesters who were heading for a demonstration called by Hezbollah to demand the removal of the judge investigating last year's port explosion, in Beirut, Lebanon October 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The fate of a probe into the Beirut port explosion appears in increasing doubt after a bitter political dispute about the actions of the judge leading the investigation set off Lebanon's bloodiest street violence in more than a decade.

Seven Shi'ite Muslims were killed by gunfire that began as people were assembling for a protest called by the Shi'ite group Hezbollah against Judge Tarek Bitar, in hours of clashes that stirred memories of the country's ruinous 1975-90 civil war.