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A senior commander for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was gunned down Wednesday outside his home in southern Beirut, security officials said. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the killing. Hezbollah immediately announced the death of Hassan al-Laqis and described him as one of the founding members of the group, suggesting he was a high-level commander close to the Shiite party's leadership. It said in a statement al-Laqis was killed as he returned home from work around midnight. He was shot five times in the head and neck, the Lebanese official said. Al-Laqis was rushed to a nearby hospital but died early Wednesday from his wounds, the officials said.

The Hezbollah statement accused Israel of being responsible for the killing. It said Israel tried to kill him several times, but had failed. "The Israeli enemy is naturally directly to blame," the statement said. "This enemy must shoulder complete responsibility and repercussions for this ugly crime and its repeated targeting of leaders and cadres of the resistance." Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied Israeli involvement. "Israel has nothing to do with this incident,These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hezbollah. They don't need evidence, they don't need facts, they just blame anything on Israel" Palmor said.