Lebanon ? A powerful explosion late Monday rocked a shopping center and hotel in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut, injuring at least two people and causing extensive damage, security officials said.

Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area, punching and hitting journalists to keep them back.

Two workers could be seen helping a black-clad, veiled woman down the glass-covered front stairs of the Promenade Hotel. She appeared shaken but not injured.

Security forces were seen rounding up several suspects, including five men with their hands tied behind their backs. They were taken to a military vehicle.

Zalka mayor Michel Murr told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. that the bomb was placed in an open area between the Centre Moussa shopping center and the hotel, which was packed with tourists. A busy Starbucks coffee shop sits across the street.

He said tourists were evacuated and none were injured.

Brig. Gen. Darwish Hobeika, commander of Lebanon’s Civil Defense Corps, told Lebanese Broadcasting that two people were lightly injured and one Civil Defense rescuer was hurt.