Lebanese soldiers fired machine guns and rifles into the air and lobbed volleys of tear gas at hundreds of angry protesters who are trying to storm the Lebanese government headquarters in Beirut.

Soldiers have carried two flag-draped coffins through a central Beirut square packed with thousands of Lebanese mourners who turned out for the funeral of a top intelligence official and his bodyguard.

A senior security official is among at least eight people killed in a huge car bomb attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut.