September 28, 2008
A CAR bomb exploded near a Shi'ite shrine in southern Damascus overnight, killing 17 people and wounding 14 others in one of the deadliest attacks to hit Syria in recent years.
The car packed with 200kg of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to Damascus airport in what Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid said was "a terrorist act".
All the casualties were civilians, he said.
"A counter-terrorist unit is trying to track down the perpetrators... We can't point the finger at any party.''
The rare attack in a country known for its iron-fisted security came during the morning rush-hour in the teeming neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab, the state-run SANA news agency said, quoting a Syrian official.
The district is popular among Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq who pray at the tomb of Zeinab, daughter of the Shi'ite martyr Ali and granddaughter of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
More than two million people reportedly visit the shrine each year.
Witnesses told state television the bomb could have claimed more victims if it had gone off a day later.
"It felt like an earthquake. The force of the explosion threw me out of bed,'' said one man who lives nearby.
"Thank God this was Saturday. The catastrophe would have been bigger if the attack had taken place on Sunday when schools were open.''
Another man said that the blast was heard 10km away in the northern suburbs of Duma and Harasta.
The attack was condemned by Syria's ally Russia as well as France, Jordan and Lebanon.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a cable of condolences to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad describing the attack as "a cruel and inhumane crime", the Kremlin website said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "barbarian and blind'' attack and expressed "solidarity with Syria in its fight against terrorism", his office said.
The precise target of the bombing was not immediately known.
'Syria is targeted, either by countries whose interests contradict those of Damascus... or other groups who have an interest in undermining Syrian security,'' law professor Ibrahim Darraji said.
The blast was the deadliest since a spate of attacks in the 1980s blamed on Muslim Brotherhood militants.
It was the worst since February when Hezbollah commander Imad Mughnieh, linked to attacks on Western and Israeli targets in the 1980s and 1990s, was killed in a Damascus car bombing.
Source: The Australian
A CAR bomb exploded near a Shi'ite shrine in southern Damascus overnight, killing 17 people and wounding 14 others in one of the deadliest attacks to hit Syria in recent years.
The car packed with 200kg of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to Damascus airport in what Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid said was "a terrorist act".
All the casualties were civilians, he said.
"A counter-terrorist unit is trying to track down the perpetrators... We can't point the finger at any party.''
The rare attack in a country known for its iron-fisted security came during the morning rush-hour in the teeming neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab, the state-run SANA news agency said, quoting a Syrian official.
The district is popular among Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq who pray at the tomb of Zeinab, daughter of the Shi'ite martyr Ali and granddaughter of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
More than two million people reportedly visit the shrine each year.
Witnesses told state television the bomb could have claimed more victims if it had gone off a day later.
"It felt like an earthquake. The force of the explosion threw me out of bed,'' said one man who lives nearby.
"Thank God this was Saturday. The catastrophe would have been bigger if the attack had taken place on Sunday when schools were open.''
Another man said that the blast was heard 10km away in the northern suburbs of Duma and Harasta.
The attack was condemned by Syria's ally Russia as well as France, Jordan and Lebanon.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a cable of condolences to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad describing the attack as "a cruel and inhumane crime", the Kremlin website said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "barbarian and blind'' attack and expressed "solidarity with Syria in its fight against terrorism", his office said.
The precise target of the bombing was not immediately known.
'Syria is targeted, either by countries whose interests contradict those of Damascus... or other groups who have an interest in undermining Syrian security,'' law professor Ibrahim Darraji said.
The blast was the deadliest since a spate of attacks in the 1980s blamed on Muslim Brotherhood militants.
It was the worst since February when Hezbollah commander Imad Mughnieh, linked to attacks on Western and Israeli targets in the 1980s and 1990s, was killed in a Damascus car bombing.
Source: The Australian
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