SYRIA: Car bomb in Syrian capital Damascus kills 17 in third significant attack this year

Record ID: 279292

  • Title: SYRIA: Car bomb in Syrian capital Damascus kills 17 in third significant attack this year
  • Date: 28th September 2008
  • Summary: (W3) DAMASCUS, SYRIA (SEPTEMBER 27, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING PAST DAMAGED SHOP FRONTS VARIOUS OF CAR WITH SMASHED WINDOWS SMASHED WINDOWS OF APARTMENT BUILDING DAMAGED DOOR WITH BROKEN GLASS MORE OF DAMAGED CARS
  • Embargoed: 13th October 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAM7H0O4V9ZXU2FKPS7I31QOI5
  • Story Text: A powerful car bomb exploded near a security complex in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday (September 27), killing 17 civilians in what the interior minister described as a terrorist attack.
    The bombing, on the road to the city's main airport, was the third major attack in the tightly-controlled country this year.
    State television said the car was rigged with 200 kgs (440 pounds) of explosives, making it one of the biggest attacks in Damascus since a series of bombings in the early 1980s by Islamist militants.
    No group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a suicide bomber has not been ruled out, but the interior minister's remarks appeared to indicate that Syrian investigators suspect Muslim militants were involved.
    The blast in southern Damascus occurred at a crowded intersection leading to the Sit Zeinab shrine, popular with Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.
    At a nearby school classrooms were filled with broken glass after the windows were blown out.
    One witness described the blast as "sounding like an earthquake," and when he ran outside to see what was happening found the street filled with smoke and a car on fire.
    A young boy told how he woke up his family when he saw the fire. His sister was injured and in hospital. He said he hoped God would punish those reponsible.
    Syrian authorities pride themselves on maintaining stability in the country of 19 million people by cracking down on dissent and opposition but their control has been challenged recently by a series of violent events.
    The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.
    The attack was the first explosion in Damascus since the car bomb assassination of Imad Moughniyah, military commander of the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, in February. Hezbollah blames Israel for that attack although Israel denies it.
    Syria has been ruled by the Baath party since it took power in a coup in 1963 and banned opposition. The security apparatus is key to Syria's support for its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006.
    The country is also home to the Palestinian Islamist group's Hamas leadership and is under pressure to scale back links with the group, Iran, and Hezbollah in recent indirect peace talk rounds with Israel.
    This month French President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first Western president to pay an official visit to Syria since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
    French officials believed the attack was orchestrated from Syria, the former military power in neighbouring Lebanon.
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