The bombings in a mainly Christian area northeast of Beirut were the latest in a spate of attacks that have been blamed on Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria and came at a time of high political tensions in Lebanon.

"This is another terrorist attempt to exert control over Lebanon with blood and repression," charged Minister of Social Affairs Nayla Moawad, a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.

The state news agency said the first explosion took place at 9:30 am (0730 GMT) in a minibus full of passengers and just seven minutes later another minibus was blown up.

"Three people were killed and 18 others were wounded," said a police spokesman, identifying the dead as an Egyptian national as well as a Lebanese man and a woman.

Many other vehicles were also damaged in the twin blasts in the village of Ain Alak that lies in the shadow of the snow-capped Mount Lebanon, a largely Christian area in multi-confessional Lebanon.

"Initial reports show that explosive charges were placed inside the buses," the police spokesman added.

Earlier reports had said as many as 12 people were killed in what Lebanese President Emile Lahoud described as a "massacre."

"It is a clear attempt to foil all internal, regional and international efforts to achieve Lebanese national unity," the Damascus-backed leader said, calling on all Lebanese to "stand united" in the face of the attack.

The bombings are likely to exacerbate tensions in a country where the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement is working to bring down the Western-backed government.