BEIRUT: Lebanon’s opposition called for a huge anti-Syria demonstration at Sunday’s funeral of a top police intelligence chief killed in a car bombing blamed on the Damascus regime.

General Wissam al-Hassan of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), a prominent figure opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, died in the attack on Friday, sparking angry calls for the government to quit.

But Prime Minister Najib Mikati insisted he would stay on after the president said it would be in the national interest.

Mikati spoke after an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the Beirut bombing, which many in Lebanon have blamed on Assad.

Saturday was declared a day of mourning for Hassan, who was killed in Ashrafieh, an upmarket mainly Christian area.

Government sources say the blast killed at least eight people, wounding many others, but the Red Cross said the final death toll could be revised downwards.

Mikati linked the murder to the recent discovery by security forces of attacks allegedly being planned by Michel Samaha, a pro-Damascus former minister who was arrested in August.

“After the discovery of explosives, logic dictates that the two cases are related,” he said, without mentioning Syria by name.

President Michel Sleiman said the bombing had targeted “the head of an efficient security agency who was able to dismantle several terrorist networks... and uncover others, the most important of which is linked to the explosives carried by Samaha from Syria.”

Anti-Syria opposition chief Saad Hariri called for a huge turnout for the funeral of the fallen general and thousands of people are expected in central Beirut for the ceremony, at the Al-Amine mosque.

Lebanese opposition figures had called on Mikati and his government to quit after the blast that killed Hassan, 47, but Mikati told reporters Sleiman had asked him to stay on.

Amid international condemnation of the bombing, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Mikati to express his “strong solidarity” with the Lebanese people and offer his condolences.

Hassan—who investigated the assassination seven years ago of former premier Rafiq Hariri in a car bombing also blamed on Syria—will be buried alongside the grave of his mentor.

His wife and children flew back to Beirut from Paris where he had taken them for safety. His wife Anna was in tears as she arrived at Beirut airport with sons Mazen, 17, and Majed, 12.

ISF chief General Ashraf Rifi said the bomb “consisted of between 60 and 70 kilos of TNT.”

The site, a mass of rubble and twisted metal, remained cordoned off as investigators sifted for clues.