U.N. investigators attacked in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A crowd “violently attacked” a team of U.N. investigators gathering evidence Wednesday in the death of a former Lebanese prime minister and stole items from them, authorities said.

The two investigators and an interpreter received medical attention, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The melee at a private clinic in Beirut underscored the charged emotions behind the international tribunal looking into Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination, and it raised concerns about intimidation and interference in the probe.

“Those who carried out this attack must know that violence will not deter the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a court of law, from fulfilling its mandate,” said a statement from the tribunal’s president, Judge Antonio Cassese.