An Nahar's Columnist Samir Kassir, long a fiery critic of Syria, was assassinated in a booby-trapped car explosion in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh residential district Thursday. He had just turned 45.

Media reports said Kassir walked out of his house and climbed into his Alfa Romeo private car that was parked near Ashrafiyeh's ABC shopping mall shortly before midday. When he turned on the ignition, the car went up in flames. Death was instantaneous, police said.

Kassir's body was gutted and partly torn to pieces. Fire engines and Red Cross activists raced with sirens wailing to the scene along with An Nahar's General Manager Gebran Tueni, who has been elected to Lebanon's new parliament in Sunday's elections.

Premier Mikati later sped from the Grand Serail to the scene of the tragedy and looked at Kassir's body as Red Cross paramedics were extracting the corpse from the smouldering wreckage. Riot police were having difficulty to turn back onlookers.

"Every time Lebanon takes a step forward, there are those who want to undermine this country," Mikati said. Calling the murder painful, he ordered security agencies to take measures to uncover the circumstances of the bombing. "We will not allow anyone to target security and freedom," Mikati said.

Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa and Justice Minister Khaled Kabbani also rushed to the blast scene along with several opposition leaders. Kassir was a founding member of Elias Attallah's Democratic Left Movement, which played a major role in the March 14 uprising against Syria's tutelage. It accused Syria's ruling Baath party and the Syrian and Lebanese secret services of murdering Kassir.

Initial reports said Kassir's wife, renowned interviewer Giselle Khory of Al Arabia satellite network was with him when the car exploded. But it was later established that the reports were untrue and that his wife was out of Lebanon.

Kassir, who had an eloquent way with words that made him one of the widest-read writers in Lebanon, authored countless fiery editorials against Syria's tutelage over Lebanon during his lifetime. He felt particularly happy when Syria was forced to evacuate Lebanon last April.