SYRIA: Bus explosion leaves six dead in Syrian capital

Record ID: 278719

  • Title: SYRIA: Bus explosion leaves six dead in Syrian capital
  • Date: 4th December 2009
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (DECEMBER 3, 2009) (REUTERS) EMERGENCY SERVICES AT SCENE OF BUS EXPLOSION VARIOUS OF DAMAGE CAUSED BY BLAST SECURITY MAN WITH DOG WRECKAGE EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8PSZ85KXDUFGTU6SHUDVYO7E
  • Story Text: Syria's interior minister says an explosion which caused fatalities on a bus in Damascus was caused by a tyre exploding, not a bomb blast as described by witnesses at the scene.
    A blast which ripped through a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims near a major Shi'ite religious shrine in Damascus on Thursday (December 3) killed six people, witnesses said although a government minister later said the cause was an accident.
    The country's interior minister, Said Sammour, said the bus was at a petrol station to have a tyre inflated when it exploded, killing three people on board.
    Earlier, witnesses said a bomb blast killed six people, destroyed the rear of the bus and caused damage to nearby buildings. Several more people were wounded in the explosion in the Sayyeda Zainab area in Damascus.
    Buildings around the scene of the blast sustained damage and glass from broken windows littered the street.
    Lebanon's al-Manar television, mouthpiece of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, said at least one of the dead was an Iranian national.
    One doctor in a nearby hospital said an undisclosed number of people were being treated for injuries sustained in the explosion.
    The blast took place as Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, was visiting Damascus for meetings with Syrian officials.
    Syrian security forces deployed in the area, a popular destination for Shi'ites from Iran and Lebanon, and were investigating the blast. There was no official word on the explosion from the authorities.
    Bomb attacks, along with a series of attacks against targets in Syria in the last three years has shaken the image of stability in a country that has recently emerged from international isolation.
    A car bomb at a security complex near Damascus airport killed 17 people in September last year, an attack that was blamed on Lebanon-based Islamist militant group with links to al Qaeda.
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