At least two people have been killed in an explosion in an industrial suburb northeast of Beirut.

Aljazeera's correspondent in Lebanon reported that a car bomb may have caused the blast in the al-Mukallis area on Monday.

The area is an eastern Christian suburb that lies a few kilometres from the headquarters of the UN team investigating the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Police had no immediate word on casualties.

Future TV station, which is owned by the al-Hariri family, said a car bomb had been detonated, but police did not immediately confirm that.

Lebanon has been rocked by a series of explosions targeting anti-Syrians in recent months. Media reports have linked the bombings to the investigation into al-Hariri's assassination as an attempt to derail the probe.

The explosion on Monday came hours after chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis submitted his report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the investigation.

In an earlier report in October, Mehlis implicated Syrian and allied Lebanese officials in the February truck bombing that killed al-Hariri and 20 others in Beirut.

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