BEIRUT, Lebanon — A car bombing rocked the heart of Beirut on Friday, causing eight deaths and many injuries, fiery wreckage and chaos in the streets, Lebanese news media said.

The blast took place in Sassine Square in the Ashrafiyeh district of East Beirut, a largely Christian and commercial area replete with shops and office buildings. At least 78 others were injured, Lebanon’s National News Agency said, citing the country’s civil defense.

The bomb was placed in a car in front of a library and 200 meters away from the office of the anti-Syrian Lebanese Phalange political movement, a Maronite Christian group.

But authorities say they don’t believe the targets are political.

The explosion shook windows in CNN’s offices, about 10 minutes away from the scene, and staffers saw black smoke rising. At least one car was engulfed in flames, blackened wreckage littered the street, and windows were blown out.

Security forces asked citizens to stay away from the area, the NNA said. Video from the scene showed people carrying victims to ambulances, rows of mangled cars and charred buildings.

One hospital said it treated more than 30 people.

Military and emergency personnel are there amid shocked crowds.

Lebanon was engulfed in a civil war from 1975 to 1990, and sectarian tensions have reigned across the diverse country.

Civilians fear that the sectarian tensions tied to the Syrian civil war will grow and the country will be sucked into the conflict.

The Phalange is part of the March 14 movement, the anti-Syrian coalition that emerged after Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005. That movement was key in forcing the withdrawal of Syrian troops that had long occupied neighboring Lebanon.

There has been violence and tension in Lebanon over Syria, where Bashar al-Assad’s government has been fighting rebels. Lebanese Alawites, who back al-Assad’s Alawite-dominated government, and Sunnis who back the opposition have fought in Lebanon.

— CNN’s Nada Husseini, Tracy Doueiry and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.