The explosion that rocked Beirut Sunday evening and that targeted the HQ of BLOM Bank, was preceded by a series of “threat” messages the most recent was a report published by the Iranian Fars News Agency, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Monday.

The message enclosed warnings attributed to a figure associate of Hizbullah against the banking sector in Lebanon, it said.

Washington denounced on Monday the bombing that rocked the western part of the Lebanese capital late Sunday and targeted the HQ of BLOM Bank, LBCI reported on Monday.

“Washington denounces the terrorist bombing. The United States reiterates its strong commitment towards the Lebanese people's stability and security,” State Department spokesman John Kirby stated.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has suggested that there is a link between a blast that went off Sunday evening outside a major bank in Beirut and a growing row between Hizbullah and the central bank governor over the implementation of U.S. financial sanctions against the party.

“The objective of the bombing in Beirut is to deal a blow to the economy and the banking system and I had called for a calm dialogue about the U.S. sanctions,” Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper shortly after the explosion outside the Verdun headquarters of BLOM Bank.

A bomb went off Sunday evening outside a branch of the BLOM Bank in Beirut's Verdun area, injuring two people.

The powerful explosion was heard across the western part of the capital.

Nine members of the same family have been food poisoned and transferred to the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, the Health Ministry announced on Sunday.

A prostitution ring has been busted inside an under-construction building in the Keserwan area of Safra and eleven Syrian and Lebanese nationals have been arrested, the Internal Security Forces said on Sunday.

Civil Defense firefighters assisted by army helicopters were on Sunday struggling to bring under control a major blaze that erupted in a forestland in the touristic area of Jeita, east of the famous Jeita Grotto.

Two people have been robbed at gunpoint in the al-Taybeh area in the southern region of Marjeyoun, state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Saturday that Hizbullah must change its internal and external policies to push away the danger threatening Lebanon’s economy.

“Hizbullah is involved in pushing away the danger threatening Lebanon's economy. It has to introduce radical change to its internal and external policies to meet the interests of the Lebanese as a whole and not precisely its own audience,” said Geagea in a statement.

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said on Saturday that the outcome of the municipal elections in Tripoli carry a political message, and assured that there are good-will mediators trying to maintain contact between al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri and himself.

“The political message derived from the results of the municipal elections in Tripoli cannot be overlooked,” Rifi told Voice of Lebanon Radio (100.5) in a telephone call.