The head of a United Nations team investigating the murder of Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, has said his team is investigating whether and why Mustafa Hamdan, commander of the presidential guard, had ordered the "clearing" of the scene of the huge explosion that killed Mr Hariri in February.

"Based on the testimonies we received, we have a suspect: Mustafa Hamdan," said Detlev Mehlis, the German head of the UN team, in an interview that appeared in the French newspaper Le Figaro. He said he had "quite a clear idea" of why the clearing of the crime scene had been ordered.