At least five people including Mohamed Shattah, Lebanon's former finance minister, have been killed by a car bomb that exploded in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The blast in the capital's centre took place only a few metres away from the government's headquarters and parliament, causing an unconfirmed number of injuries, in the residential Ain el Merasa district.

Medics and army troops were deployed to the scene where Shattah, a close aide of Saad al Hariri, the country's former prime minister, was believed to have been targeted as his convoy was passing through, Al Jazeera reported. Shattah was also a member of the Future Movement