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[EAXT]

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanese Cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel -- a key member of the anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanese parliament -- has been shot dead in an assassination that raises tensions between opponents and allies of Syria.

Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister and a member of the Phalange Party, had just left a church and was driving through a Christian neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday when at least one vehicle rammed his car, security officials said.

Three gunmen then shot Gemayel at point-blank range with automatic weapons, security officials told The Associated Press.

Gemayel, who was in his 30s, was said to have been hit at least twice in the head and neck. He was taken to a hospital where he later died. Lebanese television broadcast video of the bullet-riddled car.

Gemayel was a member of a prominent Christian political family in Lebanon. His grandfather founded the Christian Phalange party; his father, Amin Gemayel, was president of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988; and an uncle, Bashir Gemayel, was elected president but was assassinated before he could take office in 1982.

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As a Canadian/Lebanese, I would like to offer my most humble sympathies to the lebanese community on P2L...