World Notes LEBANON

The motorcade was snaking its way through lunch-hour traffic in a residential quarter of West Beirut when a parked car loaded with 330 lbs. of TNT erupted in a shattering explosion. Rescuers dashed through the flames to the black Cadillac at the center of the motorcade, but it was too late. "Our beloved Mufti is murdered!" screamed a policeman. The explosion also killed 21 others and injured 75 bystanders.

Thus ended the life of Sheik Hassan Khaled, the revered Grand Mufti of Lebanon's 900,000 Sunni Muslims. Sheik Khaled had devoted most of his 68 years to seeking an accommodation between his country's perennially fractious Muslim and Christian populations.

Responsibility for the bombing remained uncertain. The Syrians, who control West Beirut, blamed Lebanon's Christians; the Christians accused the Syrians. But fittingly, the death of the peace-loving cleric inspired a rare display of unity: Christians and Muslims joined in a one-day nationwide strike to mourn his loss.