The attack on the outlet in Dora, a Christian suburb of the Lebanese capital, came during the busy mid-afternoon period.

Police said a stick of dynamite was left in the restaurant's washrooms.

After the blast, the area was sealed off as police explosives experts investigated a car parked in front of restaurant in case it had been booby-trapped.

The attack was the fourth against an American fast food outlet here since the start of March, but the first at an hour when one of the restaurants was almost certain to be full.

The others have come around dawn or at night and no-one was hurt.

American businesses in Lebanon have been given a round-the-clock armed guard by internal security forces since the start of the Iraqi crisis, as have western embassies.

The Lebanese government is opposed to the US-led war on Iraq and Beirut has been the scene of almost daily anti-war demonstrations and calls for boycotts of American products.

SPACE.WIRE