Beirut blast kills security officer and wounds at least 12

An overnight suicide blast in Beirut's southern suburbs, Hezbollah's main bastion, killed a security officer who had tried to stop the bomber, a Lebanese security source said Tuesday.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but an audio recording posted on YouTube by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a Sunni militant group announced there would be a series of "strikes" as long as the Shiite group, Hezbollah, continues to fight in Syria.

The explosion happened at around midnight (2100 GMT Monday) near an army checkpoint and cafe where football fans were watching a World Cup match.

An army statement said a suicide attacker driving a white Mercedes "blew himself up at an army checkpoint at the Tayuneh roundabout (in southern Beirut), wounding several civilians."

The official Lebanese National News Agency reported 12 people wounded while local sources estimated the number of injured at 25.

On Tuesday, a security source told AFP a high-ranking general security agency officer whom the army had reported missing had "been martyred."

Remains were undergoing DNA testing to confirm that they were indeed those of Abdel Karim Hodroj, the source added.

The security source said Hodroj and his colleague Ali Jaber, who was wounded, "were passing through the area... They felt a vehicle that was going against the traffic flow was suspicious.

"The vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, and a man got out. (Hodroj and his colleague) stopped him and questioned him. The man said his car key was broken, and he couldn't drive anymore," the source said.

The driver's suspicious behaviour led Jaber to go to the nearby army checkpoint to report him.

"Hodroj remained with the suicide attacker to ensure he wouldn't get away," the security source said.

Jaber was 30 metres away when the explosion happened.

The bombing came a suicide attack  in eastern Lebanon killed one person and wounded at least 30 on Friday.

Southern Beirut, a stronghold of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, has been targeted by attacks for months.

Most incidents were claimed by Sunni extremists because Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters into neighbouring Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's forces battling rebels.

On Tuesday, a radical Sunni cleric warned Hezbollah in a voice recording distributed on YouTube of more possible strikes.

Sheikh Sirajeddine Zureiqat, who is linked to the Abdallah Azzam Brigades, did not claim responsibility for Monday's attack.

He did however say: "O party of Iran (Hezbollah), you who are an occupying force in Lebanon, you will not enjoy a single day of safety, until safety returns to the people of Syria and Lebanon."

"We will continue to strike you, as long as you continue to be present in Syria."

Zureiqat also called on Lebanon's Sunnis to take up arms "to defend the oppressed" and "avenge" the bloodshed in Syria.

The Abdallah Azzam Brigades are an Al-Qaeda-linked group that has previously claimed responsibility for other Syria-related violence in Lebanon.